Synthesis and application of TiO2in solar cells: Analysis of proportion of titanium isopropoxide

Abstract

Dye-sensitized solar cells are efficiently developed with TiO2in the composition. Titanium isopropoxide, due to its high organic load, prevents agglomeration of the metal nucleus, generating particles of small size, becoming ideal for TiO2synthesis. This paper aimed to evaluate the proportion of titanium isopropoxide in TiO2synthesis by Pechini methodology. The particles were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and dynamic light scattering. The cells were characterized by j-V curves and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. It was demonstrated that the studied proportions had no significant effects on particle crystallinity and shape. It was also observed that metallic cation:citric acid molar proportion of 2:1 presented particles with a smaller size, facilitating the adsorption of the dye by enhancing the photoelectrochemical parameters. The characterization of the solar cell in this condition provided efficiency of energy conversion η= 6.94%±0.07%, current density j= 9.10±0.09 mA.cm-2, and electron lifetime τe= 56.98 ms.