Fiber dye-sensitized solar cells consisting of TiO2 nanowires arrays on Ti thread as photoanodes through a low-cost, scalable route

TiO2 nanowire arrays were prepared through the low-cost, scalable alkali hydrothermal treatment of Ti threads (Phi = 250 mu m) followed by dehydration sintering. Utilization of the nanowire-covered Ti thread as a photoanode allows for the fabrication of flexible, fiber-type dye sensitized solar cells (FDSSC), configurationally different from their traditional flat counterparts. The conversion efficiency of the FDSSC reaches 5.38% through optimizing the length of the nanowires.