Nanorods and nanoparticles of titanium dioxide and their use in dye sensitized solar cells

Mesoporous TiO₂ nanorods/nanorods were successfully synthesized by hydrothermal process at 170 °C for 72 hr. The powder X-ray diffraction pattern shows large fraction of anatase phase with good crystalline behavior of the prepared materials. The specific surface area and pore volume of the synthesized material are about 84.83 m²/g and 0.1316 cc/g respectively. The morphological results show that the TiO₂ nanorods had diameter of ~ 25 nm and the length of ~ 80 nm. The nanoparticles have 20 nm in size. The current-voltage curve shows that the synthesized TiO₂ nanostructure results in 36.7 % higher solar cell efficiency than commercial P25.