Heterostructures of Cut Carbon Nanotube-Filled Array of TiO<sub>2</sub> Nanotubes for New Module of Photovoltaic Devices
Siqi Niu,
Wenbin Yang,
Heng Wei,
Michail Danilov,
Ihor Rusetskyi,
Ketul C. Popat,
Yao Wang,
Matt J. Kipper,
Laurence A. Belfiore,
Jianguo Tang
Affiliations
Siqi Niu
Institute of Hybrid Materials, National Center of International Joint Research for Hybrid Materials Technology, National Base of International Sci. & Tech. Cooperation on Hybrid Materials, Qingdao University, 308 Ningxia Road, Qingdao 266071, China
Wenbin Yang
Institute of Hybrid Materials, National Center of International Joint Research for Hybrid Materials Technology, National Base of International Sci. & Tech. Cooperation on Hybrid Materials, Qingdao University, 308 Ningxia Road, Qingdao 266071, China
Heng Wei
Institute of Hybrid Materials, National Center of International Joint Research for Hybrid Materials Technology, National Base of International Sci. & Tech. Cooperation on Hybrid Materials, Qingdao University, 308 Ningxia Road, Qingdao 266071, China
Michail Danilov
V.I. Vernadskii Institute of General and Inorganic Chemistry of the Ukrainian NAS, 32/34 Palladin avenue, 03142 Kyiv, Ukraine
Ihor Rusetskyi
V.I. Vernadskii Institute of General and Inorganic Chemistry of the Ukrainian NAS, 32/34 Palladin avenue, 03142 Kyiv, Ukraine
Ketul C. Popat
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA
Yao Wang
Institute of Hybrid Materials, National Center of International Joint Research for Hybrid Materials Technology, National Base of International Sci. & Tech. Cooperation on Hybrid Materials, Qingdao University, 308 Ningxia Road, Qingdao 266071, China
Matt J. Kipper
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA
Laurence A. Belfiore
Institute of Hybrid Materials, National Center of International Joint Research for Hybrid Materials Technology, National Base of International Sci. & Tech. Cooperation on Hybrid Materials, Qingdao University, 308 Ningxia Road, Qingdao 266071, China
Jianguo Tang
Institute of Hybrid Materials, National Center of International Joint Research for Hybrid Materials Technology, National Base of International Sci. & Tech. Cooperation on Hybrid Materials, Qingdao University, 308 Ningxia Road, Qingdao 266071, China
In this work, a new photovoltaic device was prepared. The device uses titanium (Ti) foil/TiO2 nanotubes as the photoanode and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) as a photosensitizer. Titanium dioxide nanotube arrays (TiO2-NTs) were prepared by one-step anodic oxidation. Cut-MWCNTs with a length of less than 100 nm were obtained by the mixed-acid oxidation of MWCNTs. The two materials were combined to form a TiO2-NTs@cut-MWCNT heterostructure by electrophoresis. TiO2-NTs@cut-MWCNTs were characterized by field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD), which showed that the two materials were effectively combined. We fabricated the heterostructure into a photovoltaic device, showing an enhanced photocurrent response and an efficiency of 0.0138%, and explained this phenomenon by performing UV-vis absorption spectroscopy and electrochemical tests. It is hoped that this work can provide a reference value for the application of carbon nanotubes in photovoltaic devices.
