Journal of Photosciences

Effect of Morphology on Electron Transport in Dye-Sensitized Nanostructured TiO2 Films

Volume 10(2003), 199-202 page

ÀúÀÚ: Nam-Gyu Park, Jao van de Lagemaat, and Arthur J. Frank

   10-2-199.pdf (78.5K)

Keywords: dye-sensitized  nanocrystalline  TiO2  IMPS(Intensity Modulated Photocurrent Spectroscopy)  electron transport


The relationship between the morphology of nanostructured TiO2 films and the photo-injected electron transport has been investigated using intensity-modulated photocurrent spectroscopy (IMPS). For this purpose, three different TiO2 films with 5 mm thickness are prepared: The rutile TiO2 film with 500 nm-sized cluster-like spherical bundles composed of the individual needles (T1), the rutile TiO2 film made up of non-oriented, homogeneously distributed rod-shaped particles having a dimension of approximately 20¢¥80 nm (T2), and the anatase TiO2 film with 20 nm-sized spherically shaped particles (T3). Cross sectional scanning electron micrographs show that all of the TiO2 films have a quite different particle packing density: poorly packed T1 film, loosely packed T2 film and densely packed T3 film. The electron transport is found to be significantly influenced by film morphology. The effective electron diffusion coefficient Deff derived from the IMPS time constant is an order of magnitude lower for T2 than for T3, but the Deff for the T1 sample is much lower than T2. These differences in the rate of electron transport are ascribed to differences in the extent of interparticle connectivity associated with the particle packing density.