Growth of the [110] orientedTiO2 nanorods on ITO substrates by sputtering technique for dye-sensitized solar cells

Abstract

TiO2 films have been deposited on ITO substrates by DC reactive magnetron sputtering technique. It has been found that the sputtering pressure is a very important parameter for the structure of the deposited TiO2 films. When the pressure is lower than 1 Pa, the deposited film has a dense structure and shows a preferred orientation along the [101] direction. However, the nanorod structure has been obtained as the sputtering pressure is higher than 1 Pa.These nanorod structureTiO2 films show a preferred orientation along the [110] direction.The phases of the depositedTiO2 films have been characterized by the x-ray diffraction and the Raman scattering measurements. All the films show an anatase phase and no other phase has been observed. The results of the scanning electron microscope show that these TiO2 nanorods are perpendicular to the ITO substrate. The TEM measurement shows that the nanorods have a very rough surface. The dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) have been assembled using these TiO2 nanorod films prepared at different sputtering pressures as photoelectrode. And the effect of the sputtering pressure on the properties of the photoelectric conversion of the DSSCs has been studied.