Department of Physics, Tarbiat Modarres University , Gisha Bridge, Tehran 1411717751, Iran.
ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2012 Jun 27;4(6):2964-8. doi: 10.1021/am300329p. Epub 2012 May 31.
Hierarchical submicrometer TiO2 hollow spheres with outer diameter of 300-700 nm and shell thickness of 200 nm are synthesized by liquid phase deposition of TiO2 over carbon microspheres as sacrificial templates. The final TiO2 hollow spheres are applied as a scattering layer on top of a transparent nanocrystalline TiO2 film, serving as the photoanode of a dye-sensitized solar cell (DSC). In addition to efficient light scattering, the mesoporous structure of TiO2 hollow spheres provides a high surface area, 74 m(2)/g, which allows for higher dye loading. This dual functioning suggests that TiO2 hollow spheres may be good replacements for conventional TiO2 spheres as scatterers in DSCs. A high efficiency of 8.3% is achieved with TiO2 hollow spheres, compared with 6.0% for the electrode with 400 nm spherical TiO2 scatterers, at identical conditions.
具有 300-700nm 外径和 200nm 壳厚的分级亚微米 TiO2 空心球是通过在碳微球作为牺牲模板上液相沉积 TiO2 合成的。最终的 TiO2 空心球被用作透明纳米晶 TiO2 薄膜顶部的散射层，作为染料敏化太阳能电池（DSC）的光阳极。除了有效的光散射外，TiO2 空心球的介孔结构还提供了 74m2/g 的高表面积，允许更高的染料负载。这种双重功能表明，TiO2 空心球可能是 DSC 中传统 TiO2 球作为散射体的良好替代品。在相同条件下，使用 TiO2 空心球实现了 8.3%的高效率，而使用 400nm 球形 TiO2 散射体的电极的效率为 6.0%。
