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5 years ago

Ordered Single-Crystalline Anatase TiO2 Nanorod Clusters Planted on Graphene for Fast Charge Transfer in Photoelectrochemical Solar Cells

Ordered Single-Crystalline Anatase TiO2 Nanorod Clusters Planted on Graphene for Fast Charge Transfer in Photoelectrochemical Solar Cells
Yang Wang, Songru Jia, Ya Cao, Xueqin Liu, Yinchang Li, Zhen Li, Yanli Zhao, Xupo Liu
Achieving efficient charge transport is a great challenge in nanostructured TiO2-electrode-based photoelectrochemical cells. Inspired by excellent directional charge transport and the well-known electroconductibility of 1D anatase TiO2 nanostructured materials and graphene, respectively, planting ordered, single-crystalline anatase TiO2 nanorod clusters on graphene sheets (rGO/ATRCs) via a facial one-pot solvothermal method is reported. The hierarchical rGO/ATRCs nanostructure can serve as an efficient light-harvesting electrode for dye-sensitized solar cells. In addition, the obtained high-crystallinity anatase TiO2 nanorods in rGO/ATRCs possess a lower density of trap states, thus facilitating diffusion-driven charge transport and suppressing electron recombination. Moreover, the novel architecture significantly enhances the trap-free charge diffusion coefficient, which contributes to superior electron mobility properties. By virtue of more efficient charge transport and higher energy conversion efficiency, the rGO/ATRCs developed in this work show significant advantages over conventional rGO–TiO2 nanoparticle counterparts in photoelectrochemical cells. Aligned single-crystalline anatase-TiO2-nanorod-cluster–graphene architectures (rGO/ATRCs) are developed via a shape-controlled, one-step solvothermal route. The application of rGO/ATRCs in photoelectrochemical solar cells shows remarkably enhanced performance over conventional nanoparticle–graphene hybrids. The nanostructural design and materials characteristics accelerate the charge transport collaboratively.

Publisher URL: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/resolve/doi

DOI: 10.1002/smll.201700793

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