Growth of CdS Nanorod-Coated TiO2 Nanowires on Conductive Glass for Photovoltaic Applications

Synthesis of TiO 2 nanowires directly on conductive and transparent glass substrates would be very useful for various applications such as photovoltaics and photocatalysis. Here, we report for the first time that single-crystalline TiO 2 nanowires can be synthesized on fluorine-doped tin oxide (SnO 2:F)-coated soda-lime glass substrates by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) at a temperature that is below the glass softening temperature (<530 °C). Moreover, we demonstrate that CdS nanorods with high crystallinity can be grown on top of the TiO 2 nanowire surface via chemical vapor transport (CVT) at 500 °C. Resulting TiO 2 @CdS heterostructure that has type-II band alignment showed increased absorption over the wavelength range of visible light. The TiO 2 @CdS-based inorganic-dye sensitized solar cells (DSSC) were fabricated by filling liquid electrolytes and their cell operation was demonstrated with conversion efficiency.