Fabrication of Highly-Ordered TiO2 Nanotube Arrays and Their Use in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Highly ordered TA nanotubes were successfully fabricated using a nanoporous alumina templating method. A modified sol-gel route was used to infiltrate the alumina pores with Ti(OC3H7)(4) which was subsequently converted into TiO2 nanotubes. The average external diameter, tube lengths, and wall thickness achieved were 295 nm, 6-15 mu m, and 21-42 nm, respectively. Diffraction data reveals that the nanotubes consist solely of the anatase phase. Dye-sensitized solar cells using TiO2 nanotube arrays as the working electrode yielded power conversion efficiencies as high as 3.5% with a maximum incident photon-to-current conversion efficiency of 20% at 520 nm.