Nanostructured electrodes with vertical alignment have been considered ideal structures for electron transport and interfacial contact with redox electrolytes in photovoltaic devices. Here, we report large-scale vertically aligned SnO2 nanochannel arrays with uniform structures, without lateral cracks fabricated by a modified anodic oxidation process. In the modified process, ultrasonication is...

Periodically structured electrodes are typically introduced to thin-film photovoltaics for the purpose of light management. Highly effective light-trapping and optimal in-coupling of light is crucial to enhance the overall device performance in such thin-film systems. Here, wavelength-scale structures are transferred via direct laser interference patterning to electron-selective TiO2 electrodes...

Dye sensitized solar cells (DSCs) have received considerable attention once this technology offers economic and environmental advantages over conventional photovoltaic (PV) devices. The PV performance of a DSC relies on the characteristics of its photoanode, which typically consists of a nanocrystalline porous TiO2 film, enabled with a large adsorptive surface area. Dye molecules that capture p...

The efficiency of photoelectrochemical reactions is conventionally defined in terms of the ratio between the current responses arising from the collection of carriers at electrical contacts and the incident photon flux at a given wavelength, i.e. the incident-photon-to-current-efficiency (IPCE). IPCE values are determined by a variety of factors such as the absorption constant of the active lay...

Hydrothermal reactions represent a simple and efficient method for the preparation of nanostructured TiO2 particles that could be interest as photocatalysts or catalytic supports. Although particle size is in range 2–5 µm, nanostructures composing ensure large specific surface area with values above 100 m2/g. The effects different synthesis parameters on morphology, photocatalytic activity, sta...