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The development of a novel method for the fabrication of low-cost, transparent, conducting glass (F–-doped SnO2 layer on soda–lime glass, FTO) by a specially developed atomized spray pyrolysis technique using cheap soda–lime glass in place of commercially used expensive glass at a comparatively lower temperature of 450 °C is presented. The use of these FTO plates in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) will also be described. The optimum temperature of 450 °C for the FTO layer on soda–lime glass is obtained by carrying out atomized spray pyrolysis of the precursor solution onto the soda–lime glass substrate at several different temperatures and by characterizing the materials obtained at each temperature by X-ray diffraction analysis. The FTO layers formed at 450 °C have also been characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) for morphology, grain size, and film thickness and by UV–visible transmittance spectroscopy for the optical transmission in the visible range. The electrical properties of the FTO film prepared at 450 °C are estimated by the van der Pour method and Hall measurements. The FTO films have a uniform texture with smaller grains (≥50 nm) embedded in cages formed by larger particles (≤450 nm). The presence of large grains is important for transparent conducting glass applications. The average film thickness, estimated from the SEM images, is 560 nm. The material possesses superior electrical properties such as electronic conductivity, electron mobility, and carrier density of 1.71 × 103 S cm–1, 10.89 cm2 V–1 s–1, and 9.797 × 1020 cm–3, respectively, at room temperature. This low-cost technique, which uses cheap soda–lime glass for the fabrication of FTO, is better suited for commercialization. The DSCs fabricated using these FTO plates, with the cell configuration of FTO on soda–lime glass/interconnected TiO2 nanocrystalline layer/N719 dye/I–, I3 – electrolyte/mirror-type chromium-coated and lightly platinized FTO electrode, give a maximum light-to-electricity efficiency of 10.4% under AM 1.5 (100 mW cm–2) illumination for a cell active area of 0.25 cm2.

Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT)/montmorillonite (MMT) clay nanocomposites were prepared for the first time, by exchanging exchangeable cations in the MMT interlayer with Ce(IV) followed by insertion of ethylenedioxythiophene monomer to result in spontaneous polymerization to give PEDOT—Ce(III)—MMT nanocomposites. The nanocomposites thus prepared were characterized by electrochemical methods, elemental analysis, X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, differential scanning calorimetry, and in situ conductivity measurements. Cyclic voltammograms of PEDOT—Ce(III)—MMT in 0.1 M H2SO 4 on glassy carbon electrode shows characteristics redox behavior that appear in Ce(IV)/Ce(III) and in Ce(IV)—MMTunder identical conditions together with typical electrochemical behavior of PEDOT. Further XRD results confirm that PEDOT has been intercalated within the MMT interlayer and the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy analysis implies that the organics are in their electronically conducting polymer form with significant electronic conductivity. As such, these nanocomposites may find applications in rechargeable batteries and photovoltaic devices as electrode materials and as antistatic coatings for electrical appliances.

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