A novel hierarchical homogeneous nanoarchitecture of TiO2 nanosheets branched TiO2 nanosheet arrays for high efficiency dye-sensitized solar cells

We report a novel hierarchical homogeneous nanoarchitecture of TiO2 nanosheets branched TiO2 nanosheet arrays, which is formed directly on transparent conductive fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) glass substrate through a one-step facile hydrothermal reaction without the use of a seed layer. The hierarchical homogeneous nanoarchitecture is composed of long TiO2 nanosheet trunks grafted with a large number of TiO2 nanosheet branches, which is an effective structure to improve the charge transport with the increase of the specific surface area. Dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) based on TiO2 nanosheets branched TiO2 nanosheet arrays can achieve an outstanding power conversion efficiency of 6.66%, which is attributed to the specific performances such as higher specific surface area for adsorbing more dye molecules, superior light scattering capacity for boosting the light-harvesting efficiency and faster charge transport for efficient charge collection. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.