Nano Energy (2015) 11, 728–735

Available online at www.sciencedirect.com

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/nanoenergy

RAPID COMMUNICATION

TiO2 nanotube arrays based flexible

perovskite solar cells with transparent carbon
nanotube electrode
Xiaoyan Wanga,1, Zhen Lia,1, Wenjing Xuc,
Sneha A. Kulkarnia, Sudip K. Batabyala, Sam Zhangd,
Anyuan Caoc, Lydia Helena Wonga,b,n

a
Energy Research Institute @ NTU (ERI@N), Nanyang Technological University, Techno Plaza,
50 Nanyang Drive, 637553 Singapore, Singapore
b
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Block N4.1,
Nanyang Avenue, 639798 Singapore, Singapore
c
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, College of Engineering, Peking University,
Beijing 100871, People’s Republic of China
d
School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Avenue,
Singapore 639798, Singapore

Received 4 September 2014; received in revised form 5 November 2014; accepted 25 November 2014
Available online 9 December 2014

KEYWORDS Abstract
Perovskite solar cell; A solid-state, flexible solar cell based on titanium (Ti) foil/TiO2 nanotubes (TNTs) with organic–
Flexible; inorganic halide perovskite absorber and transparent carbon nanotube electrode is demon-
Titanium foil; strated. TNT arrays together with an inherent blocking layer were simultaneously formed on Ti
TiO2 nanotubes; foil during one-step anodization. TNT arrays serve as deposition scaffold and electron conductor
Carbon nanotubes;
for perovskite absorber. Transparent conductive carbon nanotube network is laminated on top
Anodization
of perovskite and serves as hole collector as well as transparent electrode for light illumination.
Under AM 1.5, 100 mW cm
2 illumination, power conversion efficiency of 8.31% has been
achieved, which is among the highest for TiO2 nanotube based flexible solar cells. Interestingly,
up to 100 mechanical bending cycles show little deterioration to the device performance,
demonstrating good flexibility of the Ti foil based perovskite solar cells. The Ti foil based

n
Corresponding author at: Energy Research Institute @ NTU (ERI@N), Nanyang Technological University, Techno Plaza, 50 Nanyang Drive,
637553 Singapore, Singapore.
E-mail address: lydiawong@ntu.edu.sg (L.H. Wong).
1
Equal contribution to the work.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.nanoen.2014.11.042
2211-2855/& 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
TiO2 nanotube arrays based flexible perovskite solar cells with transparent carbon nanotube electrode
solid-state, flexible perovskite solar cells have great potential for applications in building
photovoltaics and wearable electronic devices.
& 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Introduction
As a new member of the next generation photovoltaic
materials, organometal halide perovskite (e.g., CH3NH3PbI3,
CH3NH3PbI3
xClx) was first demonstrated for efficient solar
cells in 2009 [1], and soon become the most important
candidate to replace silicon, with low material cost and high
efficiency. Owing to the high light absorption coefficient
(1.5  104 cm
1 at 550 nm) [2] and long electron–hole diffu-
sion length ( 100 nm for CH3NH3PbI3 [3,4] and 1 μm for
CH3NH3PbI3
xClx [4]), perovskite solar cells have achieved a
stunning success in a very short period in terms of efficiency,
i.e., from 4% in 2009 [1] to 10% in 2012 [5,6], then 15% in 2013
[7] and 19.3% at present [8].
The rapid and significant progress in perovskite solar cell
triggers vigorous research interest, as well as commercialization
efforts. Flexibility is one of the development directions, which
can be beneficial for both production (with roll-to-roll appr-
oaches) and applications (easy installation on buildings and
integration on wearable devices). Flexible perovskite solar cells
have been reported by a few groups since end of 2013 [9–14].
Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) coated by conductive indium
tin oxide (ITO) was adopted as the flexible substrates [9–13].
PCBM and PEDOT:PSS were used as electron and hole transport
layers, yielding efficiencies of 4.5%  9.2% [9–12]. In addition,
low-temperature processed ZnO layer has also been used as
electron transport layer in flexible perovskite solar cells on PET
substrate [13]. The efficiency limitation of the flexible per-
ovskite solar cells on PET substrates may lie in the high series
resistance of ITO on PET substrates. In contrast, conductive
metal foils possess better conductivity and mechanical robust-
ness compared to PET substrates. Furthermore, metal substrate
can tolerate high temperature treatment for sintering TiO2.
Among the electron transport materials used in perovskite solar
cell, TiO2 is still holding the efficiency record [8]. Meso-porous
TiO2 scaffold is also essential for solving the hysteresis problem
of perovskite solar cells [15].
Titanium (Ti) foils with TiO2 nanoparticles, nanotubes, or
nanowires have been applied in flexible dye-sensitized solar
cells (DSSCs) as photoanodes [16–23]. In particular, TiO2 nano-
tube (TNT) arrays can be grown on Ti foil by a facile elec-
trochemical anodization, which is a scaleable production
technique. However, flexible DSSCs with TNT arrays have shown
relatively poor performance with efficiencies lower than 4%
[17,19] and all these devices required liquid electrolyte, which
will cause sealing difficulty in large-scale production. To
replace dye absorber in DSSCs, efficient perovskite absorbers
will greatly increase the light absorption. More importantly,
the monolithic all-solid-state device structure for perovskite
absorber will render the flexible solar cells better performance
stability during deformations. Recently Gao and co-authors
reported perovskite sensitized liquid solar cells with TNTs on
rigid FTO glass [24]. Fiber shaped, flexible perovskite solar cells
have also been demonstrated with TiO2 nanoparticle coated on
729
stainless steel fibers, yielding efficiency of 3.3% [14]. However,
solid-state flexible perovskite solar cells based on TiO2 nano-
tubes have not been reported so far.
In Ti foil based perovskite devices, the opaque Ti foil
hinders the light absorption from the photoanode, so the
device will not work using a conventional metallic counter
electrode and therefore a transparent counter electrode is
required. Transparent graphene [25] and carbon nanotubes
(CNT) [20–23,26,27] have been successfully employed as the
counter electrode in DSSC devices. Recently, transparent CNT
networks had been proved to be good hole conductor for
perovskite solar cells [14,28]. These works inspired our
proposed flexible perovskite solar cell architecture with Ti
foil as a working electrode, TNT as mesoporous layer for
perovskite loading and carbon nanotubes as hole conductor
and transparent electrode for light illumination. To date, it is
the first attempt of Ti metal foil substrate based flexible
perovskite solar cell and a decent power conversion efficiency
of 8.31% has been achieved.
Experimental
Fabrication of TiO2 nanotube arrays
Two kinds of Ti foils with different thicknesses (125 μm, 99.7%
purity, Sigma-Aldrich; 25 μm, 99.98% purity, Sigma-Aldrich)
were employed. Prior to anodization, Ti foils were degreased
ultrasonically in acetone, ethanol and deionized (DI) water for
20 min each and dried by air stream. Highly-ordered TiO2
nanotube arrays were prepared by electrochemically anodiza-
tion at 20 V for 10 min at room temperature ( 20 1C). The
anodizations were carried out with a two-electrode configura-
tion with Ti foil as the working electrode and platinum gauze
as the counter electrode. The electrolyte solution was ethy-
lene glycol (extra pure, Merck) containing 0.3 wt% ammonium
fluoride (98+%, Reagent, Sigma-Aldrich) and 2 vol% DI water.
After anodization, the as-anodized TNT samples were rinsed in
DI water to remove the electrolyte and then dried in air. For
application in solar cells, the as-grown TNTs were subjected to
thermal annealing at 450 1C for 3 h to convert amorphous
titania into anatase phase. For better cell performance, the
TNTs were also treated in 40 mM TiCl4 aqueous solution at
70 1C for 10 h and then rinsed with ethanol and DI water.
Synthesis of carbon nanotubes
CNT network films were synthesized using the floating
catalyst chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method using a
tube furnace [29]. Ferrocene (0.36 M) as catalyst and sulfur
(0.036 M) as growth promotion agent were dissolved in
xylene to form a uniform precursor solution. The tempera-
ture for CVD was set to 1150 1C. Then 2500 sccm Ar and
600 sccm H2 were introduced into the quartz tube as carrier
730
gas. When the temperature and gas flow stabilized, the
precursor solution was injected into the quartz tube at a
preheating zone of the furnace with a temperature of
180 1C. The precursor vaporized and was transported into
the center zone of the furnace by the gas flow for CNT
growth. CNTs grew from the floating Fe catalyst in the carrier
gas flow. As shown in the Supporting materials (Fig. S1), the
attained carbon nanotubes are mainly single and double-
walled carbon nanotubes with diameters between 1 and
2 nm. After growth, the CNTs formed an aerosol carried by
Fig. 1 Schematic of solid-state perovskite solar cells based on
Ti foil/TiO2 nanotubes and carbon nanotubes.
Fig. 2 (a) XRD patterns of the phase structures of TiO2 nanotubes/Ti, PbI2/TiO2 nanotubes/Ti and perovskite/TiO2 nanotubes/Ti. TiO2, PbI2
and perovskite peaks are marked by black box, circle and star respectively and the rest peaks from Ti substrate; (b) cross-sectional
morphology of perovskite/TiO2 nanotubes/Ti electrode; (c) tilted scanning electron image of CNT film covering partially on perovskite
surface; (d) magnified top morphology of CNT covered perovskite.
X. Wang et al.
the gas flow to the end of the quartz tube with a temperature
of 100–150 1C, where it was collected on a nickel foil.
Individual nanotubes assembled into bundles with diameter
of tens of nanometers and interweave to form a free standing
CNT film.
Deposition of perovskite absorber
Perovskite absorber was deposited on TNT arrays by a
sequential method. 1 M lead iodide (PbI2) were dissolved in
N,N-dimethylformamide overnight under stirring condition at
70 1C. The PbI2 solution was spin coated on TNTs at 6000 rpm
for 5 s, followed by drying on a hot plate at 70 1C for 30 min. In
order to convert PbI2 into CH3NH3PbI3, the PbI2 loaded TNT
samples were immersed in 8 mg mL
1 CH3NH3I solution in
2-propanol for 30 min. Subsequently, the samples were rinsed
with 2-propanol and then dried at 70 1C for 30 min again.
Assembly of perovskite solar cell device
CNT films on nickel foil was lifted off by a taped substrate and
transferred on the top of perovskite sensitized TNT/Ti foil
[24]. Several drops of toluene were used to wet CNT film for
improving the contact between CNTs and perovskite surface.
After toluene vaporization, a hole transport materials, namely
TiO2 nanotube arrays based flexible perovskite solar cells with transparent carbon nanotube electrode
spiro-OMeTAD (2,20 ,7,70 -tetrakis-(N,N-di-p-methoxyphenyla-
mined) 9,90 -spirobifluorene) in chlorobenzene (120 mg mL
1)
were spin coated on CNTs covered substrate with a speed of
4000 rpm for better hole collection. Prior to cell testing,
both Ti foil and CNT electrodes were soldered for better
electrical contact.
Film characterization and cell testing
The phase structure of the TNT arrays, the deposited PbI2
and perovskite films were investigated by X-ray diffraction
(XRD, Bruker-AXS D8 Advance). The cross-sectional mor-
phology of perovskite sensitized TNTs and top views of CNT
covered perovskite layers were examined by field-emission
scanning electron microscope (FESEM, JSM-7600). The pho-
tocurrent density–voltage (J–V) performance of the cell
devices was characterized using solar simulator (San-EI
Electric, XEC-301S) under AM 1.5 with illumination from
the CNT side. The illumination area was determined by the
black mask with an area of 0.16 cm2 (small area testing) and
0.36 cm2 (larger area for bending testing). Incident photon
to current conversion efficiency (IPCE) was determined
using PVE300 (Bentham), with a dual xenon/quartz halogen
light source, measured in DC mode and no bias light used.
Results and discussion
The cell configuration is shown in Fig. 1. From bottom to top in
sequence are Ti foil, TNT arrays loaded with perovskite absorber
Fig. 3 (a) Characteristic photocurrent–voltage curves of TNT and CNT based perovskite solar cells with different Ti foil thickness
and with/without TiCl4 treatment; (b) IPCE of 25-μm-thick Ti based perovskite solar cells with/without TiCl4 treatment. The table
summarizes performance parameters with standard deviations calculated from different batches of devices fabricated under
identical fabrication conditions, together with the attained best value shown in brackets.
731
and CNT networks composite with spiro-OMeTAD. Dense TNT
arrays grown on Ti foil by electrochemical anodization serve both
as a scaffold for perovskite deposition and as an electron
collector. CNT network acts as hole collector and transparent
electrode. For better hole collection, the hole transport material
spiro-OMeTAD is infiltrated in carbon nanotubes network [28].
Light comes from CNT side, as indicated by arrow in Fig. 1. Since
Ti foil and CNT network are flexible materials, the integrated
solar cell device is expected to show good flexibility.
Highly ordered TiO2 nanotubes arrays are formed on Ti foil by
electrochemical anodization [30,31]. The as-anodized TNTs are
amorphous in nature. To facilitate electron transport, amor-
phous nanotubes are converted into anatase phase by thermal
annealing at 450 1C for 3 h, as shown in the XRD patterns in
Fig. 2(a). CH3NH3PbI3 perovskite are formed on TNT arrays by a
sequential deposition method [7]. In the first step, PbI2 was
deposited on nanotubes by spin coating, as revealed by the two
peaks at 12.72 1 and 39.52 1 in the XRD patterns Fig. 2(a)).
Thereafter, soaking of PbI2 loaded nanotube substrates in
CH3NH3I solution and subsequent drying process at 70 1C lead
to formation of CH3NH3PbI3. The characteristics XRD peaks of
CH3NH3PbI3 are indicated by black stars in Fig. 2(a). It is in well
agreement with previous report [32].
Cross-sectional morphology of perovskite loaded TiO2 nano-
tubes is presented in Fig. 2(b). The tube arrays formed on Ti foil
are 300 nm in length and 60 nm in diameter. A dense layer
of perovskite nanocrystals with a size of 100–400 nm completely
covers the nanotubes. The flexible CNT network is transferred
on top of the perovskite layer as the counter electrode, as
shown in the tilted SEM image of Fig. 2(c). The CNT transfer
732
procedure is described in previous report [28]. The CNT film is
highly transparent with transmittance between 60% and 80% all
over the CH3NH3PbI3 absorption wavelength range from 300 to
800 nm (see Fig. S2 in Supporting information). The CNT
network is closely adhered to the perovskite by van der Waal
force. From the magnified top morphology of CNT/perovskite in
Fig. 2(d), it shows that the bundled CNT networks are sparse
with pores for light transmittance. In order to enhance hole
collection in perovskite solar cells, spiro-OMeTAD are infiltrated
into CNT networks by spin coating [28].
Noticeably, there is a very thin TiO2 compact layer
formed between the TNT arrays and Ti foil during anodiza-
tion (Fig. 2(b)) [33–35]. The simultaneous anodic formation
of the TiO2 blocking layer and nanotube scaffold has great
advantages. The one-step anodization exempts the complex
fabrication process of sequential depositing blocking layer
and meso-porous TiO2 layers. It is also highly controllable
with the ability of forming uniform coating over large area,
which is desirable for large scale production.
The thickness of Ti foil affects the device flexibility.
Herein, two kinds of Ti foils with different thicknesses
Fig. 4 (a) Photograph of Ti foil/TNT and CNT based flexible perovskite solar cells; (b) combined J–V curves of flexible device with
different bending cycles; (c) plot of photovoltaic parameters as a function of bending cycles.
X. Wang et al.
(125 μm and 25 μm) were used in perovskite solar cell
fabrication. For both thick and thin Ti foil based perovskite
devices, TiCl4 treatment was employed to improve the
photovoltaic performance. TiCl4 treatment has been widely
used in dye-sensitized solar cells [36–38] and perovskite
solar cells [5,7,28]. It fills the voids and cracks in TiO2
blocking layer and therefore decreases recombination in
solar cells. Fig. 3 shows the device performances of the
TNT/CNT perovskite solar cells with different Ti foil thick-
nesses and with/without TiCl4 treatment. The combined
J–V curves are presented in Fig. 3(a) and the corresponding
photovoltaic parameters are summarized in the table. Solar
cells fabricated on 25 μm Ti foil exhibited higher photo-
voltage (0.83 vs. 0.70 V for non-TiCl4-treated tubes; 0.99 vs.
0.78 V for TiCl4-treated tubes) and improved fill factor (0.63
vs. 0.62 for non-TiCl4-treated tubes; 0.68 vs. 0.62 for TiCl4-
treated tubes), in comparison to 125 μm Ti foil based solar
cells. The Voc and fill factor improvement may be ascribed
to the smaller surface roughness of the thinner Ti foil, as
shown in Fig. S3 of the Supporting information. It is
presumable that the smoother Ti surface improves the
TiO2 nanotube arrays based flexible perovskite solar cells with transparent carbon nanotube electrode
flatness of perovskite layer and reduces the unfavorable
current shunting, thus in return increases the Voc and fill
factor.
As evident in Fig. 3(a), TiCl4 treatment after anodization
is beneficial to enhance all photovoltaic parameters, includ-
ing photocurrent, Voc, fill factor and thus power conversion
efficiency. Notably, Voc is greatly improved after TiCl4
treatment (0.78 vs. 0.70 V for 125-μm-thick Ti; 0.99 vs.
0.83 V for 25-μm-thick Ti). It can be ascribed to the
reduction of recombination sites by the newly formed
nanoparticles from TiCl4 treatment. The slight improvement
of photocurrent can be also shown from the IPCE of
perovskite solar cells with/without TiCl4 treatment, as
displayed in Fig. 3(b). From 400 nm to 700 nm, TiCl4 treated
TNTs exhibit higher IPCE, which indicates a higher charge
separation efficiency thus results in photocurrent increase.
Noticeably, the IPCE is relatively low at wavelength
between 300 and 400 nm due to the strong light absorption
of spiro-OMeTAD in this wavelength region (Fig. S2 in the
Supporting information). Further improvement of photocur-
rent can be expected by adapting HTM materials with better
transparency. For the 25-μm-thick Ti foils, the best per-
ovskite solar cells with TiCl4 treatment yield efficiency of
8.31%. The obtained efficiency is among the highest
reported for flexible perovskite solar cells [10–13].
Besides photovoltaic performance, tolerance to mechan-
ical bending is another important factor of consideration for
flexible perovskite solar cells. A photograph of flexible TNT/
CNT perovskite solar cell is shown in Fig. 4(a). The 25-μm-
thick Ti foil based devices were used to investigate solar cell
flexibility. The solar cell with length of 2.5 cm was bended
to a bending radius of 0.75 cm by mechanical force up to
100 cycles. The dependence of the device performances on
bending cycles is presented in Fig. 4(b and c). J–V curves in
Fig. 4(b) show that the photocurrent remains identical and
the photovoltage is slightly decreased through the bending
tests. As the J–V curve shape moves inwards with bending,
as indicated by the arrow, the most affected device para-
meter after bending is the fill factor. During repeating
bending, micro-sized cracks and delamination could be
generated at the interfaces between different layers of
the solar cells, which would deteriorate the interface and
increase the series resistance of solar cells. The decrease of
fill factor could be a result of the increased series resistance
in solar cells after bending. The photovoltaic parameters
with bending cycles are plotted in Fig. 4(c). After 100
bending cycles, the photocurrents are just slightly
decreased from 9.56 to 9.37 mA cm
2 and photovoltage is
reduced from 0.98 V to 0.95 V. The fill factor is mostly
affected, from 0.64 to 0.57, with 11% decrease. The
efficiency is thus decreased from 6.01% to 5.06%. The
results show that the mechanical bending does not signifi-
cantly affect the cell performance. Ti foil/TNT/CNT based
perovskite solar cells maintain good performance after 100
bending cycles, demonstrating their high flexibility.
Conclusions
In summary, flexible, solid-state perovskite solar cells based
on Ti foil/TNTs and CNTs have been demonstrated. To our
best knowledge, it is the first demonstration of flexible
733
perovskite solar cells on Ti metal foil substrate. The Ti foil/
TNTs act as scaffold for perovskite loading and electron
transport layer, while the transparent CNT top electrode
acts as hole collecting layer and light transmission. With
25 μm Ti foil and TiCl4 treatment to TiO2 nanotube arrays,
power conversion efficiency up to 8.31% has been achieved.
The solar cells on Ti foil maintain good performance after
100 mechanical bending cycles, indicating their excellent
flexibility. Considering the high efficiency, good flexibility
and simple fabrication technique, Ti foil/TNTs based flexible
perovskite solar cells holds a promising future for roof-top
photovoltaics and power sources for wearable devices.
Acknowledgement
Funding from National Research Foundation (NRF), Singa-
pore, is acknowledged through CRP Award no. NRF-CRP4-
2008-03 and the Singapore-Berkeley Research Initiative for
Sustainable Energy (SinBeRISE) CREATE program. X. Wang
wishes to thank the support from the World Future Founda-
tion (WFF) as a recipient for the 2014 WFF PhD Prize.
Appendix A. Supporting information
Supplementary data associated with this article can be
found in the online version at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/
j.nanoen.2014.11.042.
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Dr. Xiaoyan Wang received her Bachelor and
Master degree in Materials Science and Engi-
neering from BeiHang University, Beijing, in
2006 and 2009, respectively. In February
2014, she received her PhD degree from
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
She won the 2014 “World Future Foundation”
outstanding Ph.D thesis prize. She is currently
a research fellow in Energy Research Institute
@ NTU (ERI@N). She is now working on CIGS
thin film solar cell and organic–inorganic
perovskite solar cells.
X. Wang et al.
Dr. Zhen Li received his B.S. and Ph.D.
degree in Material Science and Engineering
from Tsinghua University, China in 2008 and
2013. Currently, He is research fellow in
Energy Research Institute (ERI@N), Nanyang
Technological University. His research inter-
est includes perovksite-based solar cells and
synthesis and photovoltaic applications of
carbon nanomaterials (carbon nanotubes,
graphene etc.)
Miss. Wenjing Xu received her B.S. degree in
School of Physics And Engineering from
Zhengzhou University, China in 2013. She is
currently a Ph. D. student, majoring in Mate-
rial Science and Engineering in College of
Engineering in Peking University. Her research
interest focuses on fabrication and character-
ization of carbon-based thin-film solar-cell for
efficient energy conversion.
Dr. Sneha Avinash Kulkarni received her
Ph.D. in Physical and Materials Chemistry
from National Chemical Laboratory (NCL),
University of Pune, India in 2008. She
worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow in National
University of Singapore (NUS) from 2008–
2011. Presently, she is working as a Senior
Research Fellow in Energy Research Insti-
tute (ERI@N), Nanyang Technological Uni-
versity. Her research interests focus in
synthesis and application of nano materials
for energy harvesting and storage. Her
current research is involved in fabrication of the perovskite based
solar cell.
Dr. Sudip Kumar Batabyal obtained his PhD
degree in physics from Indian Association
for the Cultivation of Science (Jadavpur
University), India in 2007. After completing
the Postdoctoral Research work in National
University of Singapore and in Nanyang
Technological University he joined as a
senior scientist in Energy Research Institute
in NTU (ERI@N). His research work is in
synthesis and application of nanostructured
materials for energy harvesting and storage.
Solution processing of inorganic and hybrid
materials for device fabrication is of his special interest. His
research focus is on the development of absorber materials and
electrode materials for photovoltaic’s devices.
Prof. Sam Zhang received Ph.D. degree in
Ceramics in 1991 from The University of
Wisconsin-Madison, USA and is a tenured full
professor (since 2006) at School of Mechanical
and Aerospace Engineering, NTU. He serves as
Editor-in-Chief for Nanoscience and Nano-
technology Letters and Principal Editor for
Journal of Materials Research (USA). He has
been in processing and characterization of
nanocomposite thin films and coatings for
more than 20 years and has published more
than 280 peer reviewed international papers,
12 books, 20 book chapters and guest-edited more than 10 Journal
volumes. His papers have been cited 4532 times and his h-index is 37.
TiO2 nanotube arrays based flexible perovskite solar cells with transparent carbon nanotube electrode
Prof. Anyuan Cao received his PhD degree
in Mechanical Engineering from Tsinghua
University. He has spent 3 years in Rensse-
laer Polytechnic Institute as a postdoc
researcher, and 3 years in the University of
Hawaii at Manoa as an assistant professor.
He is currently a professor in the Depart-
ment of Materials Science and Engineering,
College of Engineering, Peking University.
His research areas include controlled synth-
esis of macroscopic structures based on
carbon nanotubes and graphene, self-
assembly, nanocomposites, nanoelectronics, energy and environ-
mental applications. He has published over 100 peer-reviewed
journal papers.
735
Prof. Lydia Helena Wong received B. Appl.
Sci. with Honors and Ph.D. in Materials
Science and Engineering from NTU. After-
wards, she worked as a Senior Engineer at
the Technology Development Department of
Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing
(Global Foundries) and was a Visiting Scien-
tist at Stanford University developing
organic photovoltaic materials at the
Department of Chemical Engineering. She
is currently an Assistant Professor at the
School of Materials Science and Engineer-
ing, NTU. Her research group currently focuses on the investigation
of non-toxic and abundant metal oxides and chalcopyrite materials
for solar harvesting applications.