Precipitation assisted-hydrothermally derived TiO2 nanostructures for DSSC application

• Main Authors: Wani, P. N., Yawale, P. R., Shelke, P. N., Sharma, Vidhika, Khollam, Y. B., Jadkar, S. R.
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Subjects: Anatase; Annealing; Chemical precipitation; Crystallization; Dye-sensitized solar cells; Electrolytic cells; Hydrothermal reactions; Iodine; Luminous intensity; Morphology; Nanoparticles; Nanostructure; Nanotubes; Photovoltaic cells; Quantum efficiency; Titanium dioxide
• ISSN: 0094-243X; 1551-7616
• DOI: 10.1063/5.0043723

Herein, dye sensitized solar cell (DSSC) application of precipitation assisted-hydrothermally derived TiO2 nanostructures is realized through extensive analysis. The TiO2 nanostructures are derived by precipitation reaction of titanium tetra-isopropoxide (TTIP) followed by annealing of resultant precipitate at 300°C and then hydrothermal reaction of as-annealed precipitate in alkaline media at 120, 130, 140 and 150 °C for 24 hr. The resultant nano-structured powders are examined by XRD, UV-Visible spectroscopy and FESEM. The material characterization of as-derived nanostructured powders revealed the crystallization of phase pure TiO2 nanostructures like nanoparticles (NPs), nanochains (NCs) and nanotubes (NTs) with anatase symmetry. The N719 sensitized solar cells are fabricated by using photoanodes prepared with as-derived TiO2 nano-structured powders and electrolyte solution (0.05 M iodine, 0.5 M LiI, and 0.5 M 4-tertbutylpyridinein 3-methoxypropionitrile). The DSSC characteristics are obtained by using solar simulator under illumination of as-fabricated cells with light of AM 1.5 (100 mWcm-2) intensity. The photoconversion efficiency is found to be increasing from 1.10 to 3.06 % by changing the morphological features from nanoparticles (NPs) to nanotubes (NTs). The profound effect of change in morphology of TiO2 based photoanode on photoconversion efficiency is found.