Application of Titania compounds in dyesensitized solar cells

This paper describes a photovoltaic cell created from titania (TiO2) nonoparticles which exhibits realistic energy conversion efficiency. A simple method was proposed to synthesize TiO2 nanoparticles: hydrolysis of titanium isopropoxide (TIPS) in hexane, and then calcination under different temperatures (from 500 °C to 800 °C). The microstructure of TiO₂ nanoparticles was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) were prepared with the TiO₂ nanoparticles and the cells performance was then evaluated. The results revealed that the calcination temperature substantially affected the phase and size of TiO₂ nanoparticles and hence the efficiency of DSSCs. Anatase TiO₂ nanoparticles 10 to 50 nm in diameter formed on calcination between 500 °C to 700 °C with the optimum solar cell efficiency for the 500 °C.