Facile synthesis of TiO₂ microspheres via solvothermal alcoholysis method for high performance dye-sensitized solar cells

TiO₂ microspheres (MS-TiO₂) are synthesized by a facile one-step nonaqueous solvothermal alcoholysis method. Without any post-processing, the as-prepared MS-TiO₂ constituted by high crystallinity anatase nanoparticles (∼18 nm) exhibits large specific surface area (114 m² g⁻¹), high porosity (71%), and wide pore size distribution (centered at ∼12.4 nm, average pore diameter is ∼20.9 nm). Moreover, the MS-TiO₂ shows superior light scattering ability. When employed as photoanode in dye-sensitized solar cells, the MS-TiO₂ films display excellent dye loading capacity and good light-harvesting capabilities in the range of 400–700 nm. Consequently, an ultrahigh short circuit current density up to 20.41 mA cm⁻² and a high power conversion efficiency of 10.35% are achieved by the MS-TiO₂ based solar cells.