Nanoparticle and nanorod TiO2 composite photoelectrodes with improved performance

A novel nanoparticle-nanorod composite TiO2 photoelectrode is fabricated. A 3.20% efficiency is achieved by using a 2.1 mu m-thick as-prepared photoelectrode, which is about 3 times of that obtained by a nanorod array electrode (1.05%). The results demonstrate that the composite nanostructure can take advantage of both fast electron transport (nanorod) and high surface area (nanoparticle).