Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) offer the possibilities to design solar cells with a large flexibility in shape, color, and transparency. DSC research groups have been established around the worl ...

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Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Photocatalysis has recently become a common word and various products using photocatalytic functions have been commercialized. Among many candidates for photocatalysts, TiO2 is almost the only material suitable for industrial use at present and also probably in the future. This is because TiO2 has the most efficient photoactivity, the highest stability and the lowest cost. More significantly, it has been used as a white pigment from ancient times, and thus, its safety to humans and the environment is guaranteed by history. There are two types of photochemical reaction proceeding on a TiO2 surface when irradiated with ultraviolet light. One includes the photo-induced redox reactions of adsorbed substances, and the other is the photo-induced hydrophilic conversion of TiO2 itself. The former type has been known since the early part of the 20th century, but the latter was found only at the end of the century. The combination of these two functions has opened up various novel applications of TiO2, particularly in the field of building materials. Here, we review the progress of the scientific research on TiO2 photocatalysis as well as its industrial applications, and describe future prospects of this field mainly based on the present authors' work.

https://www.jsap.or.jp/jsapi/Pdf/Number14/04_JJAP-IRP.pdf

TiO2 Photocatalysis: A Historical Overview and Future Prospects

TiO(2) is one of the most studied compounds in materials science. Owing to some outstanding properties it is used for instance in photocatalysis, dye-sensitized solar cells, and biomedical devices. In 1999, first reports showed the feasibility to grow highly ordered arrays of TiO(2) nanotubes by a simple but optimized electrochemical anodization of a titanium metal sheet. This finding stimulated intense research activities that focused on growth, modification, properties, and applications of these one-dimensional nanostructures. This review attempts to cover all these aspects, including underlying principles and key functional features of TiO(2), in a comprehensive way and also indicates potential future directions of the field.

TiO2 nanotubes: synthesis and applications.

In the present review we try to give a comprehensive and most up to date view to the field, with an emphasis on the currently most investigated anodic TiO2 nanotube arrays. We will first give an overview of different synthesis approaches to produce TiO2 nanotubes and TiO2 nanotube arrays, and then deal with physical and chemical properties of TiO2 nanotubes and techniques to modify them. Finally, we will provide an overview of the most explored and prospective applications of nanotubular TiO2.

One-dimensional titanium dioxide nanomaterials: nanotubes.

Under the spotlight: The organic–inorganic hybrid halide perovskite for optoelectronic applications

Cathodic electrodeposition of oxide semiconductor thin films and their application to dye-sensitized solar cells

Electrochemical Self‐Assembly of Nanoporous ZnO/Eosin Y Thin Films and Their Sensitized Photoelectrochemical Performance

Cathodic electrodeposition in an aqueous mixed solution of zinc nitrate and water-soluble tetrasulfonated metallophthalocyanines (TSPcMs), in which M = Zn(II) (TSPcZn), Al(III)[OH] (TSPcAl), or Si(IV)[OH]2 (TSPcSi), resulted in a self-assembled growth of zinc oxide (ZnO) thin films whose surface is modified by TSPcMs. It has been found that the adsorption of TSPcM onto the growing surface of ZnO strongly affects the crystal growth and the orientation of the ZnO crystallites. The effect was most prominently seen with TSPcSi, creating a film looking like stacking disks aligned perpendicular to the substrate. Crystallographic studies by X-ray diffraction and TEM observation coupled with the selected area electron beam diffraction have revealed that thin platelike crystals, whose planes and edges correspond to the (002) and (100) crystal faces, respectively, are aligned in the same orientation around the c-axis within the stacks. The evolution of this unique structure is interpreted as arising from the prefer...

Self-Assembly of Zinc Oxide Thin Films Modified with Tetrasulfonated Metallophthalocyanines by One-Step Electrodeposition

Mg-doped TiO2 nanorods were successfully synthesized from colloidal titanate by a microwave hydrothermal reaction. Use of such TiO2 having an elevated conduction band edge as an electron extracting material for ammonium lead halide perovskite solar cells resulted in an increase of Voc by as much as 215 mV.

Takashi Sugiura

Papers

Cathodic electrodeposition of oxide semiconductor thin films and their application to dye-sensitized solar cells

Electrochemical Self‐Assembly of Nanoporous ZnO/Eosin Y Thin Films and Their Sensitized Photoelectrochemical Performance

Self-Assembly of Zinc Oxide Thin Films Modified with Tetrasulfonated Metallophthalocyanines by One-Step Electrodeposition

Mg-doped TiO2 nanorods improving open-circuit voltages of ammonium lead halide perovskite solar cells

Electrodeposition of CuInSe2 films from a sulphate bath