Effect of Temperature on Growth of TiO2 Nanoflowers Photoanode for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

A one-step hydrothermal process for TiO2 nanoflowers directly grew on fluorine drop tin oxide (FTO) glass substrates were investigated in this study. Under the limited condition of 1.5 ml of titanium precursor, set different reaction temperature to 150 degrees C, 165 degrees C, and 180 degrees C, it was found that with the increasing reaction temperature, the thickness of TiO2 nanoflowers increased gradually, but the surface of TiO2 nanoflowers film become compact and then went disrupt. Employ these TiO2 nanoflowers as the photoanode of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), the best device with TiO2 nanoflowers processed at 165 degrees C performed with a Photovoltaic Conversion Efficiency (PCE) of 2.83%. Appropriate film thickness and TiO2 nanoflower clusters at 165 degrees C brings these TiO2 nanoflowers large dye loading, high light harvesting ability and enough electron path, an exorbitant reaction temperature may cause high interface resistance of TiO2 nanoflowers, and damage the performance of DSSCs.