Size-Tunable, Fast, and Facile Synthesis of Titanium Oxide Nanotube Powders for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Size-tunable titanium oxide (TiO2) nanotube powders offering both a light-scattering effect and a light-harvesting function were synthesized by a fast and facile anodizing method. When used to prepare the TiO2 layer for a photoanode, their photovoltaic performances were much worse than that of a nanocrystal TiO2 layer. However, when the TiO2 nanotube powders were used as a light-scattering layer on a nanocrystal TiO2 layer, the highest conversion efficiency was obtained because of more noticeable light absorption of the longer wavelength, which was not attainable from a pure nanocrystal TiO2 layer or the combination of nanocrystal TiO2/commercialized light-scattering particles.