Self-Seeding Synthesis of Hierarchically Branched Rutile TiO(2) for High-Efficiency Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

[Image: see text] This study presents a unique and straightforward room temperature-based wet-chemical technique for the self-seeding preparation of three-dimensional (3D) hierarchically branched rutile TiO(2), abbreviated HTs, employing titanate nanotubes as the precursor. In the course of the synthesis, spindle-like rutile TiO(2) and the intermediate anatase phase were first obtained through a dissolution/precipitation/recrystallization process, with the former serving as the substrates and the latter as the nucleation precursor to growing the branches, which finally gave birth to the production of 3D HTs nanostructures. When the specifically created hierarchical TiO(2) was used as the photoanode in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs), a significantly improved power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 8.32% was achieved, outperforming a typical TiO(2) (P25) nanoparticle-based reference cell (η = 5.97%) under the same film thickness. The effective combination of robust light scattering, substantial dye loading, and fast electron transport for the HTs nanostructures is responsible for the remarkable performance.