Soft processing of hierarchical oxide nanostructures for dye-sensitized solar cell applications

To improve the performance of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), numerous hierarchically nanostructured anodes based on nanoparticle films and nanowire arrays have been constructed, exhibiting a high surface area for dye adsorption and the ability to scatter light. This review briefly summarizes the latest progress in conventional solution processing and soft processing routes for fabricating hierarchical TiO2 and ZnO nanostructures on transparent conducting oxide (TCO) substrates for DSSC anodes. Soft processing routes, which directly fabricate functional materials with the desired composition, structure, shape, size, location, and orientation with low energy, have been demonstrated to be efficient methods for preparing hierarchical DSSC anodes based on nanowire arrays on TCO substrates. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.