Growth of Aligned Single-Crystalline Rutile TiO2 Nanowires on Arbitrary Substrates and Their Application in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

TiO2 is a wide band gap semiconductor with important applications in photovoltaic cells and photocatalysis. In this paper, we report synthesis of single-crystalline rutile phase TiO2 nanowires on arbitrary substrates, including fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO), glass slides, tin-doped indium oxide (ITO), Si/SiO2, Si(100), Si(111), and glass rods. By controlling the growth parameters such as growth temperature, precursor concentrations, and so forth, we demonstrate that anisotropic growth of TiO2 is possible leading to various morphologies of nanowires. Optimization of the growth recipe leads to well-aligned vertical array of TiO2 nanowires on both FTO and glass substrates. Effects of various titanium precursors on the growth kinetics, especially on the growth rate of nanowires, are also studied. Finally, application of vertical array of TiO2 nanowires on FTO as the photoanode is demonstrated in dye-sensitized solar cell with an efficiency of 2.9 ± 0.2%.