Hydrothermal Fabrication of Ordered SnO2 Nanorod Arrays by Liquid Phase Conversion Process for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

One-dimensional semiconductor materials have attracted significant research interest because of their unique properties for various technological applications. SnO₂, as a wide band-gap semiconductor material is a promising photoanode material for dye-sensitized solar cells because of its fast electron mobility and suitable conduction band-edge position. Crystalline, ordered SnO₂ nanorod arrays were successfully grown directly on a transparent conducting oxide using a hydrothermal approach. The fabrication procedure involved using an ordered ZnO nanowire array as a template and then converting it into SnO₂ nanorod array via a liquid-phase conversion process. Large-scale growth of uniform nanorod arrays, with high orientation consistency, was achieved through this low temperature hydrothermal process. Furthermore, the performance of SnO₂ nanorod arrays as photoanode in dye-sensitized solar cells was evaluated.