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Anatase TiO2 nanowires with nanoscale whiskers for the improved photovoltaic performance in dye-sensitized solar cells

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Abstract

TiO2 as an efficient electron transfer material has been widely utilized in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), and the morphology of TiO2 plays a decisive role in the performance of DSSCs. However, one-dimensional TiO2 nanowires, which are generally used as the efficient electron transport layers, have small specific surface area and low dye loading. Here, we introduce an effective and reproducible one-step hydrothermal method to prepare TiO2 nanowire with nanoscale whiskers. The synthetic sample was characterized by the field emission scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray powder diffraction. TiO2 nanowire with nanoscale whiskers has a high light scattering performance and high dye loading capacity. This novel TiO2 nanowire show a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 4.12%, which is close to the benchmark of P25 nanoparticle usually used in DSSC fabrication. The PCE of DSSC-3 using TiO2 nanowire with nanoscale whiskers and commercial P25 double-layer photoanode has a PCE of 5.98%, showing an increase of 11.98% when compared with DSSC-2 based on pure P25 photoanode.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge financial support from the Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 21676146), the Financial Foundation of State Key Laboratory of Materials-Oriented Chemical Engineering and A Project Funded by the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Materials-Oriented Chemical Engineering, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nan**g Tech University, Nan**g, 210009, China

    Zhaobin Zhang, Wanxian Cai, Yanqi Lv, Yuanzeng **, Koucheng Chen, Ling Wang & **ngfu Zhou

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  1. Zhaobin Zhang
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  2. Wanxian Cai
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  3. Yanqi Lv
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  4. Yuanzeng **
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Correspondence to **ngfu Zhou.

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Zhang, Z., Cai, W., Lv, Y. et al. Anatase TiO2 nanowires with nanoscale whiskers for the improved photovoltaic performance in dye-sensitized solar cells. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 30, 14036–14044 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-019-01768-1

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