Rapid Synthesis of Mesoporous TiO2 for the Photoanodes in Dye Sensitized Solar Cells

Mesoporous TiO2 microspheres with high specific surface areas were synthesized by means of a facile one-step microwave hydrothermal process without using any template. The mesoporous materials were rapidly achieved using TiCl4, urea and ammonium sulphate at comparatively low microwave power (400 W) for 8 min irradiation. The morphology and microstructure of the as-prepared products were characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area analysis. Structural characterization indicates that the TiO2 microspheres display mesoporous structure. The average pore sizes and BET surface areas of the spheres were 5.3 nm and 222 m(2) g(-1), respectively. The mesoporous nanocrystals synthesized at 160 degrees C for 8 min were then used to prepare the photoanode for dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). A high power conversion efficiency of 5.72% was achieved from the mesoporous TiO2 based photoanode, representing about 25.7% improvement over the efficiency of P25 photoanode.