Abstract
The development of porous TiO 2 thin films is of significant interest for photovoltaic and photocatalytic applications owing to their ability to enhance light utilization. Herein, porous TiO 2 films were prepared using 350 nm polystyrene (PS) particles as sacrificial templates, and the effect of PS concentration on photocurrent generation was systematically evaluated. Morphological and optical analyses confirmed the successful formation of porous structures with improved light-harvesting characteristics. Typically, the optimized PS-modified TiO 2 film exhibited a photocurrent density of ~118 μA/cm 2 , corresponding to an enhancement of ~20.5% relative to bare TiO2 film. Integrating sphere measurements revealed increased total absorbance for the porous films, indicating that the improved photocurrent density generation originates from enhanced light trapping within the porous surface. This work highlights the importance of porosity engineering and demonstrates that PS-assisted templating is an effective approach for enhancing the performance of TiO2 -based photoactive thin films.