Size-Tunable, Fast, and Facile Synthesis of Titanium Oxide Nanotube Powders for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Size-tunable titanium oxide (TiO(2)) nanotube powders offering both a light-scattering effect and a light-harvesting function were synthesized by a fast and facile anodizing method. When used to prepare the TiO(2) layer for a photoanode, their photovoltaic performances were much worse than that of a nanocrystal TiO(2) layer. However, when the TiO(2) nanotube powders were used as a light-scattering layer on a nanocrystal TiO(2) layer, the highest conversion efficiency was obtained because of more noticeable light absorption of the longer wavelength, which was not attainable from a pure nanocrystal TiO(2) layer or the combination of nanocrystal TiO(2)/commercialized light-scattering particles.