Surface properties of nano‐TiO₂ synthesized from two different TiO₂ precursor sources by an alkaline hydrothermal process followed with a H₂O₂ treatment: Experiments combined with statistical analysis

Abstract

Our research aimed to improve the surface properties of TiO2 for application in dye‐sensitized solar cells (DSC) by an alkaline hydrothermal process combined with H2O2 treatment. The effect of the TiO2 sources on the product quality was evaluated further by statistical analysis of the experimental data. The two commercial TiO2 precursors from Supelco (Merck – Germany) and BA‐100 (China) were used to produce nano TiO2 by the hydrothermal process in NaOH solution with two different concentrations of 5 M and 8 M at 150oC. The final products were characterized by XRD, FT‐IR, FE‐SEM, and chemical bonds on the TiO2 surface were particularly identified by XPS. The XPS data were then analyzed statistically by the K‐Means Clustering algorithm based on R software. The results showed that NaOH concentrations were directly involved with the formation of Ti─O; Ti─OH bonds and TiO2 morphology. The H2O2 treatment showed similar effects on TiO2 surface bonding but with less significant impacts than those of NaOH. In particular, the TiO2 reactant sources did not influence the structures, morphologies, and especially the surface properties of the products. Hence, a low‐cost TiO2 reactant should be selected in terms of economically effective products. The final TiO2 products were suitable for applications in DSC.