Sol-gel coupled hydrothermal synthesis of cactus structured TiO2 for quantum dot sensitized solar cell

Nanocrystalline TiO2 thin films have been prepared by hydrothermal method. CdS quantum dots have been incorporated into TiO2 thin films using simple precursors by SILAR method and the assembly of CdS quantum dots with TiO2 thin films has been used as photo-electrode in quantum dot-sensitized solar cells. X-ray diffraction results showed the formation of rutile phase TiO2. The absorption spectra reveals that the absorption edge of CdS quantum dot sensitized nanocrystalline TiO2 thin films shifts towards longer wavelength side when compared to the absorption edge of TiO2 thin films. The efficiency of the fabricated CdS quantum dot sensitized TiO2 thin film based solar cell is 1.5%.