Ultralong, small-diameter TiOTiO₂ nanotubes achieved by an optimized two-step anodization for efficient dye-sensitized solar cells.

An optimized two-step anodization is developed to fabricate ultralong, small-diameter TiO2 nanotubes, that is, with tube length of up to 31 μm and pore diameter of about 35 nm in this work. This overcomes the length limitation of small diameter tubes that usually presents in conventional one-step anodization. The small tubes with lengths of 23 μm yield a conversion efficiency of 5.02% in dye-sensitized solar cells under nonoptimized conditions.