Metal–Organic Framework Derived Hierarchical Porous Anatase TiO2 as a Photoanode for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell

• DOI: 10.1021/acs.cgd.5b01003
• Publication Date: 2015-11-23T18:33:44Z
• Authors: Jie Dou; Yafeng Li; Fengyan Xie; Xiaokun Ding; Mingdeng Wei
• Keywords: 02 engineering and technology; 0210 nano-technology; 7. Clean energy

Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) have been generating a great deal of interest due to their high specific surface area, regular pore structure, and adjustable aperture. However, only a few studies explored their application in the field of photovoltaic devices. In the present work, MIL-125(Ti), one kind of MOFs, was investigated as the precursor for TiO2 photoanode of dye-sensitized solar cells for the first time. Herein, pure anatase TiO2 with a hierarchical structure was synthesized through the decomposition of MIL-125(Ti), which avoids the use of templates and fussy operation of sol–gel methods. The obtained TiO2 has a specific surface area of 147 m2 g–1 and a mean pore size value of 10 nm. When used as a photoanode material in dye-sensitized solar cells, the device gave rise to an overall energy conversion efficiency of 7.20%, which is better than the performance of the P25 based photoanode.