Effect of TiO2 nanostructure's shape on the DSSCs performance

The effect of morphology of anatase TiO
2
nanoparticles as photoanode in dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) has been investigated. Two types of TiO
2
nanostructures, namely nanograss and nanospherical particles, used in this study have been prepared via liquid phase deposition (LPD) method. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) analysis of DSSCs device with a sandwich structure of ITO/TiO
2
/dye/electrolyte/ Pt film indicated that the device utilizing TiO
2
nanograss exhibited the lower in charge transfer resistance (R
ct
), of 49.1 Ω. This might be due to the high-porous characteristic of TiO
2
nanograss compared to the nanospherical particles that provides facile charge transport and ion diffusion. Power conversion efficiency as high as 0.97% has been recorded from the device utilizing nanograss of TiO
2
, which was 3 times higher compared to TiO
2
nanospherical particles of which its conversion efficiency was only 0.33%.