Comparison of photovoltaic properties of TiO₂ electrodes prepared with nanoparticles and nanorods

In this report, single crystalline rutile TiO₂ nanoparticles and nanorods were synthesized via the hydrothermal method using titanium tetra-isopropoxide as a precursor then, these were coated on top of a fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) substrate by using a doctor blade and direct deposition, respectively. Consequently, TiO₂ nanorods-based dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC) exhibit a J_sc of 3.37 mA/ cm², a V_oc of 0.82 V and fill factor of 60.1% with an overall conversion efficiency of 1.66%. This result shows an increase of around 38% for current density and 35% for conversion efficiency. Also, with respect to the impedance data, TiO₂ nanorods-based DSSCs had smaller semicircles than did the nanoparticles-based DSSCs. These results demonstrate that the nanorod structure can have fast electron transport and reduced charge recombination.