Synthesis and Characterization of Various Doped TiO₂ Nanocrystals for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Abstract

Few works are reported on solvothermal preparation of nanoparticles by utilizing acetone alone without a surfactant. This synthesis approach is found to be prominent for producing the mesoporous structure, which is crucial in improving the dye loading of the photoanode. In addition, doping of metal ions is advantageous in order to bring down the excitation energy, which is promising for boosting the performance of the doped oxides. This research aims to synthesize various kinds of doped-TiO 2 nanocrystals to serve as photoanode materials in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). An X-ray diffraction study evidenced the existence of the crystalline phase in pure and doped-TiO 2 nanocrystals. Rietveld refinement study showed the mixed phases of crystalline TiO 2 in the CrT, CuNT, and ST as compared to a single anatase phase in the samples PT, AgT, BT, CoT, FeT, SnT, ZT, VT, and ZMT. The absorption spectroscopy analysis demonstrated the reduced optical band gap from 3.10 to 2.79 eV. Scanning electron microscopy investigation endorsed the formation of TiO 2 mesoporous microspheres with a mean diameter ranging from 200 to 331 nm along with a nanocrystal diameter ranging from 10 to 20 nm. Doping with the different dopants enhanced the conversion efficiency of DSSCs from 1.31 to ∼6%. Furthermore, we have performed the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy of DSSCs, and the findings are presented.

Ni‐doped TiO 2 / TiO 2 homojunction photoanodes for efficient dye‐sensitized solar cells

“…In our case, it is about 30 Ω, which negatively affects FF of the devices. 7,56 Smaller semicircles appeared in the higher frequency region of the Nyquist plot, which are associated with charge transfer resistance (R ct ) at the interfaces of the counter electrode/electrolyte and FTO/electrode interface. As it can be seen from Table 2, R ct value slightly changes with varying photoanode structure.…”

Recent Advances in Photocatalytic Oxidation of Methane to Methanol

“…Titanium dioxide (TiO 2 ) is the most widely used semiconductor for photocatalyst due to its wide band gap, lower price, high photocatalytic activity, considerable photostability, non-toxicity, ample availability, insolubility in aqueous solution, and chemical and biological inertness [ 38 ]. Currently, TiO 2 materials are used for many applications, including water splitting [ 39 ], water treatment [ 40 ], air pollution treatment [ 10 ], solar cells [ 41 ], and many other applications ( Figure 12 ).…”

Sputtered Ultrathin TiO2 as Electron Transport Layer in Silicon Heterojunction Solar Cell Technology

“…Titanium dioxide (TiO 2 ) is a low-cost non-toxic n-type semiconductor extensively used in a wide-range of applications such as optical and anti-reflection coatings [ 1 , 2 ], capacitors for microelectronic devices [ 3 ], photocatalysis [ 4 , 5 ], and solar cells [ 6 , 7 ]. This large variety of applications is feasible mainly due to its suitable optoelectronic and photocatalytic properties, its high chemical stability, and its wide band gap (~3.2 eV) [ 8 ].…”