Dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), which is one of the contending renewable energy sources, have the problem of low efficiency. To improve the efficiency, the fast electron transport and long electron lifetime are required. In this study, one-dimensional sodium hexatitanate, which is expected to have an advantageous structure for electron transports, was synthesized and the feasibility of the material on DSSC was tested. Its physical properties were characterized by the SEM, XRD, and BET method. The dye adsorption and solar cell properties were also characterized. In addition to the expectation of fast electron transport, sodium hexatitanate showed longer electron lifetime: This means sodium hexatitanate can improve the DSSC efficiency. However, it showed low current and voltage because of the low surface area leading to the low amount of dye adsorbed. Therefore, it should be mixed with titanium oxide with high surface area for the optimal performance.

Nano-structured one-dimensional Na2Ti6O13 particles were synthesized by a molten salt process. Effects of processing parameters on the microstructure and band gap energy of the Na2Ti6O13 powder were studied in this paper. For the synthesis of the Na2Ti6O13 particles, two different raw materials of tubular shaped Na-titanate (Na-TiNT) and spherical shaped TiO2 were utilized. Synthesizing with the raw material of Na-TiNT, around 70nm thick 1D-Na2Ti6O13 with the bandgap energy of 3.5 eV was obtained at 810℃. Below 810℃ or without the presence of NaCl, 1D-Na2Ti6O13 was in a relatively short in length and agglomerated state. With the processing temperature increased, the thickness of the 1D-Na2Ti6O13 was also observed to be increased. On the other hand, when TiO2 was employed as a raw material, the mixed amount of Na2CO3 played an important role in transforming the morphology and phase of the raw material, affecting the bandgap energy of the synthesized product. Specific surface area of the synthesized 1D-Na2Ti6O13 was significantly affected by the raw and mixed materials as well as processing temperature. When Na-TiNT was processed at 810℃ with NaCl, the specific surface area of the 1D-Na2Ti6O13 showed the best value of 30.63 m2/g.