A simple one-step heat-treatment of peroxotitanate complex aqueous solution at around 100 degrees C was resulted in the formation of ellipsoidal anatase TiO2 nanoparticles having a high aspect ratio with no branches. The length of these ellipsoidal TiO2 falls in the range of 200-350 nm, depending on mole ratio of Ti4+/H2O2. Dye-sensitized solar cell based on these ellipsoidal nanocrystalline TiO2 as photoanode was fabricated and characterized. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Nikolaos Vlachopoulos, Ulf Anders Hagfeldt, Kazuteru Nonomura, Gunther Wittstock