Chemical treatments of the nanocrystalline porous TiO2 electrodes

Two types of nanocrystalline porous TiO2 electrodes were prepared by the hydrothermal and painting methods. The incident photon-to-current efficiency and photoelectrical conversion efficiency were both improved by chemical treatments of titanium tetrachloride and titanium isopropoxide. The surface roughness, quantities of adsorbed dye, photocurrent-voltage curves, IR spectra and UV-visible absorption spectra were measured, and the mechanism of chemical treatments was discussed.