Layered-stacking of titania films for solar energy conversion: Toward tailored optical, electronic and photovoltaic performance

Nanostructured TiO2 with differentiate morphologies has attracted tremendous attention due to its wide band-gap nature as well as outstanding optical and electric properties for solar-driven light-to-electricity conversion application. Layered-stacking TiO2 film such as double-layer, tri-layer, quadrupleor quintuplicate-layer, is highly desirable to the design of high-performance semiconductor material photoanodes and the development of advanced photovoltaic devices. In this minireview, we will summarize the recent progress and achievements on proof-of-concept of layered-stacking TiO2 films (LTFs) for solar cells with emphasis on the tailored properties and synergistic functionalization of LTFs, such as optimized sensitizer adsorption, broadened light confinement as well as facilitated electron transport characteristics. Various demonstrations of LTFs photovoltaic systems provide lots of possibilities and flexibilities for more efficient solar energy utilization that a wide variety of TiO2 with distinguished morphologies can be integrated into differently structured photoanodes with synergistic and complementary advantages. This key structure engineering technology will also pave the way for the development of next generation state-of-the-art electronics and optoelectronics. Finally, from our point of view, we conclude the future research interest and efforts for constructing more efficient LTFs as photoelectrode, which will be highly warranted to advance the solar energy conversion process. (C) 2017 Science Press and Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Published by Elsevier B.V. and Science Press. All rights reserved.