(Invited) Mesoporous Anatase Single Crystals for Efficienct Co(2+/3+) Based Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell

Highly crystalline mesoporous architectures are very promising for a number of applications due to their uniqute properties arising from their excellent electronic conductivity, structural coherence, mass-trasport-efficienct channels, and large surface area/pore volume. Herein, we report a facile synthesis approach to mesoporous anatase single crystals with special polydedral pores (approximately 7 nm). This achitecture is employed to contruct MK-2 sensitized solar cells using a cobalt redox shuttle, with a maximum efficiency of 8.7 % achieved, which is significantly higher than for analogous devices based on commercial Dysol TiO₂ paste (6.3%).