In the present work, we introduce the anodic growth of conical shaped TiO2 nanotube arrays. These titania nanocones provide a scaffold for dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) structures with significantly improved photon management, providing an optimized absorption profile compared with conventional cylindrical nanotube arrays. Finite difference time domain (FDTD) modelling demonstrates a drastically changed power-absorption characteristic over the tube length. When used in a back-side illumination DSSC configuration, nanocone structures can reach over 60 % higher solar cell conversion efficiency than conventional tubes. The resulting {\eta} of ca. 8 % represents one of the highest reported values for Graetzel type DSSCs used under back-side illumination.
@article{arxiv.1610.06437,
title = {Conical-Shaped Titania Nanotubes for Optimized Light Management in DSSCs Reach Back-side Illumination Efficiencies > 8%},
author = {Seulgi So and Arian Kriesch and Ulf Peschel and Patrik Schmuki},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1610.06437},
year = {2016}
}