High-efficiency dye-sensitized solar cells based on robust and both-end-open TiO2 nanotube membranes

In the present work, dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) were fabricated by incorporating transparent electrodes of ordered free-standing TiO2 nanotube (TNT) arrays with both ends open transferred onto fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) conductive glass. The high-quality TiO2 membranes used here were obtained by a self-detaching technique, with the superiorities of facile but reliable procedures. Afterwards, these TNT membranes can be easily transferred to FTO glass substrates by TiO2 nanoparticle paste without any crack. Compared with those DSSCs consisting of the bottom-closed membranes or attached to Ti substrate, the carefully assembled and front-side illuminated DSSCs showed an enhanced solar energy conversion efficiency as high as 5.32% of 24-μm-thick TiO2 nanotube membranes without further treatments. These results reveal that by facilitating high-quality membrane synthesis, this kind of DSSCs assembly with optimized tube configuration can have a fascinating future.