Growth of CdS nanorod-coated TiO₂ nanowires on conductive glass for photovoltaic applications

Synthesis of TiO₂ nanowires directly on conductive and transparent glass substrates would, be very useful for various applications such as photovoltaics and photocatalysis. Here, we report for the first time that single-crystalline TiO₂ nanowires can be synthesized on fluorine-doped tin oxide (SnO₂:F)-coated soda-lime glass substrates by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) at a temperature that is below the glass softening temperature (< 530 °C). Moreover, we demonstrate that CdS nanorods with high crystallinity can be grown on top of the TiO₂ nanowire surface via chemical vapor transport (CVT) at 500 °C. Resulting TiO₂@CdS heterostructure that has type-II band, alignment showed increased absorption over the wavelength range of visible light. The TiO ₂@CdS-based inorganic-dye sensitized solar cells (DSSC) were fabricated by filling liquid electrolytes and their cell operation was demonstrated with conversion efficiency.