Improving Ag-TiO2nanocomposites’ current density by TiCl4 pretreated on FTO glass for dye-sensitised solar cells

Abstract

Titanium tetrachloride (TiCl4) pretreatment on the fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) is one of the alternative techniques to enhance short-circuit current density (Jsc) and efficiency of dye-sensitised solar cells (DSSC) by improving the inter-particle bonding between FTO grain and nanoporous titanium dioxide (TiO2). The present study investigbrkates the effect of TiCl4 pretreatment on the surface of FTO glass to enhance the Jsc and efficiency of silver-titanium dioxide (Ag-TiO2) nanocomposites. The pretreatment process was prepared by immersing FTO glass into TiCl4 solution at 70°C for 30 min, and then sintered at 500°C for 30 min. Morphological and elemental characteristics were done to observe the structure and composition of pretreatment on the FTO glass. The results showed that the Ag-TiO2 with TiCl4 pretreatment achieved high efficiency of 7.27% with Jsc of 18.95 mA/cm2. The proposed method shows that the pretreatment can improve the efficiency by improving the inter-particle bonding between nanoporous TiO2 and FTO grain, which can enhance the electron transfer. Also, the presence of Ag in the nanocomposites as a solar concentrator can increase the light absorption by TiO2 nanoparticles and also increase the DSSC efficiency.