Monodisperse mesoporous TiO2 microspheres for dye sensitized solar cells

Uniform discrete mesoporous titania microspheres have been synthesized via a facile and controllable interface-directed co-assembly approach by using 3-dimensional macroporous carbon (3DOMC) as the nanoreactor for the confined co-assembly of template molecules and titania source. By adjusting the synthesis parameters, hollow mesoporous microspheres and hemi-microspheres can also be synthesized. The obtained mesoporous TiO2 microspheres possess a large pore size (4.7 nm), high accessible surface area (145 m(2)/g), large pore volume (0.26 cm(3)/g) and highly crystallized anatase pore walls. The dye sensitized solar cell based on the mesoporous TiO2 microspheres exhibits high photoconversion efficiencies up to 8.5%, which are largely attributed to their intrinsic high surface area, high porosity and well-connected crystalline framework. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.