Hydrothermal synthesis of ordered single-crystalline rutile TiO2 nanorod arrays on different substrates

We report the mild hydrothermal synthesis of single-crystalline rutile TiO₂ nanorod arrays (NRAs). The method reported here shows great versatility and can be used to grow TiO₂ NRAs on a large diversity of substrates including Si, Si/ SiO₂, sapphire, Si pillars, and fluorine doped tin oxide (FTO)-covered glass. The average diameter and length of the nanorods prepared at typical conditions are ∼60 nm and 400 nm, respectively. Dye-sensitized solar cells assembled with the TiO₂ NRAs grown on the FTO-covered glass as photoanode were prepared with a photoconversion efficiency of ∼1.10%. © 2010 American Institute of Physics.