Morphological control of TiO2 nanocrystals by solvothermal synthesis for dye-sensitized solar cell applications

Sasipriya Kathirvel, Sireesha Pedaballi, Chaochin Su*, Bo Ren Chen, Wen Ren Li

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal Article peer-review

28 Scopus citations

Abstract

TiO2 nanocrystals TETA1, TPRA2, TIPA3, TBUA4, TTBA5, and TBNA6 were prepared using ethanol, 1-propanol, isopropyl alcohol, n-butanol, tert-butyl alcohol, and benzyl alcohol, through the alcohol-based solvothermal method. The morphology, size, and crystallinity of the TiO2 nanocrystals were characterized utilizing transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy analyses. These six TiO2 nanocrystals with different morphologies were used as photoanodes in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) and their cell efficiencies were 8.08% (TETA1), 8.38% (TPRA2), 9.18% (TIPA3), 7.68% (TBUA4), 7.85% (TTBA5), and 6.10% (TBNA6). Among them, the well dispersed rod-shaped one-dimensional TiO2 (TIPA3) photoanode based cell showed the best power conversion efficiency due to its highest dye loading and excellent light-harvesting capacity. This TIPA3 cell demonstrated a fast electron transport rate with suppressed charge recombination which was confirmed from electrochemical impedance spectroscopy.

Original languageEnglish
Article number146082
JournalApplied Surface Science
Volume519
DOIs
StatePublished - 30 07 2020
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2020

Keywords

  • Dye loading
  • Dye-sensitized solar cells
  • Power conversion efficiency
  • Solvothermal synthesis
  • TiO nanocrystals

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