Enhancement of Photovoltaic Performance of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells by Modifying Tin Oxide Nanorods with Titanium Oxide Layer

Highly crystalline SnO 2 nanorods with lengths of about 200 nm and diameters of 40–80 nm are synthesized by a hydrothermal method. Because of an efficient electron transport channel along the one-dimensional structure, a dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) based on the SnO 2 nanorods shows a fast electron transport and a long electron lifetime, resulting in higher power conversion efficiency than the DSSC SnO 2 -based nanoparticles. To suppress charge recombination at SnO 2 nanorods and electrolyte/dye interfaces, we modify SnO 2 nanorod electrode with TiO 2 compact layer and TiCl 4 post-treatment, and the DSSC exhibits a power conversion efficiency of 4.67%.