TiO₂ Nanowire Networks Prepared by Titanium Corrosion and Their Application to Bendable Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Saera Jin; Eunhye Shin; Jongin Hong

doi:10.3390/nano7100315

TiO₂ Nanowire Networks Prepared by Titanium Corrosion and Their Application to Bendable Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Nanomaterials (Basel). 2017 Oct 12;7(10):315. doi: 10.3390/nano7100315.

Authors

Saera Jin¹, Eunhye Shin², Jongin Hong³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry, Chung-Ang University, 84 Heukseok-ro, Dongjak-gu, Seoul 06974, Korea. saera0907@gmail.com.
² Department of Chemistry, Chung-Ang University, 84 Heukseok-ro, Dongjak-gu, Seoul 06974, Korea. swh0904@gmail.com.
³ Department of Chemistry, Chung-Ang University, 84 Heukseok-ro, Dongjak-gu, Seoul 06974, Korea. hongj@cau.ac.kr.

Abstract

TiO₂ nanowire networks were prepared, using the corrosion of Ti foils in alkaline (potassium hydroxide, KOH) solution at different temperatures, and then a further ion-exchange process. The prepared nanostructures were characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The wet corroded foils were utilized as the photoanodes of bendable dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), which exhibited a power conversion efficiency of 1.11% under back illumination.

Keywords: TiO2; dye-sensitized solar cells; wet corrosion.