Influence of reaction temperature on hydrothermally grown TiO2 nanorods and their performance in dye-sensitized solar cells

Abstract The vertically aligned TiO2 nanorods were deposited on fluorine-doped tin oxide glass substrates by using the hydrothermal method at a different reaction temperature from 150 to 180 °C. The effects of reaction temperature on structural, morphological and optical properties of deposited TiO2 films have been investigated systematically. Further, the TiO2 films were used as a photoanode for efficient dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) application. The XRD patterns show the formation of the rutile phase with the tetragonal crystal structure. FESEM images revealed the increase in length and diameter of TiO2 nanorods with respect to the reaction temperature. Current density-voltage characteristics of DSSC showed the correlation between the photoconversion efficiency and reaction temperature. The maximum photoelectric conversion efficiency reached 1.79% along with short-circuit current density of 2.90 mA/cm2 and open-circuit potential of 765 mV for TiO2 film deposited at 180 °C.

[1]  Wenxi Guo,et al.  Densely aligned rutile TiO2 nanorod arrays with high surface area for efficient dye-sensitized solar cells. , 2012, Nanoscale.

[2]  Hongzhou Dong,et al.  Significant effects of reaction temperature on morphology, crystallinity, and photoelectrical properties of rutile TiO2 nanorod array films , 2013 .

[3]  N. Muthukumarasamy,et al.  Enhanced performance of sodium doped TiO2 nanorods based dye sensitized solar cells sensitized with extract from petals of Hibiscus sabdariffa (Roselle) , 2018, Materials Letters.

[4]  Myeongkyu Lee,et al.  Performance enhancement of dye-sensitized solar cell with a TiCl4-treated TiO2 compact layer , 2015, Electronic Materials Letters.

[5]  T. Narushima,et al.  TiO2 layers on Ti-Au alloy formed by two-step thermal oxidation and their photocatalytic activity in visible-light , 2016 .

[6]  F. Rueda,et al.  Preparation and characterization of sprayed FTO thin films , 2007 .

[7]  K. Ramamurthi,et al.  Controlled (110) and (101) crystallographic plane growth of single crystalline rutile TiO2 nanorods by facile low cost chemical methods , 2014 .

[8]  R. Mane,et al.  Low-temperature chemical synthesis of rutile and anatase mixed phase TiO2 nanostructures for DSSCs photoanodes , 2017 .

[9]  Peng Wang,et al.  Towards Understanding What Contributes to Forming an Opinion , 2016 .

[10]  D. Abou‐Ras,et al.  Reactive magnetron sputtering of Nb-doped TiO2 films: Relationships between structure, composition and electrical properties , 2016 .

[11]  Sun-Jae Kim,et al.  Homogeneous Precipitation of TiO2 Ultrafine Powders from Aqueous TiOCl2 Solution , 1999 .

[12]  K. Ramamurthi,et al.  Growth of rutile TiO2 nanorods on TiO2 seed layer prepared using facile low cost chemical methods , 2014 .

[13]  Ramachandran Kumar,et al.  Self-organized sol-gel TiO2 structures: Particles, rectangle tubes, and flower-like slabs , 2017 .

[14]  N. Muthukumarasamy,et al.  Enhanced photovoltaic performance of quantum dot sensitized solar cells with Ag-doped TiO2 nanocrystalline thin films , 2014, Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics.

[15]  Chang Su Shim,et al.  Hydrothermal synthesis of rutile TiO2 bottle brush for efficient dye-sensitized solar cells , 2014, Journal of nanoparticle research.

[16]  R. Devan,et al.  Photoelectrochemically active surfactant free single step hydrothermal mediated titanium dioxide nanorods , 2014, Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics.

[17]  Wenxi Guo,et al.  Optimized porous rutile TiO2 nanorod arrays for enhancing the efficiency of dye-sensitized solar cells , 2013 .

[18]  Bin Liu,et al.  Growth of oriented single-crystalline rutile TiO(2) nanorods on transparent conducting substrates for dye-sensitized solar cells. , 2009, Journal of the American Chemical Society.

[19]  D. Gogova,et al.  Electrochromic behavior in CVD grown tungsten oxide films , 1999 .

[20]  Jihuai Wu,et al.  Controllable agglomeration of titanium dioxide particles by one-step solvothermal reaction toward efficient dye-sensitized solar cell , 2017 .

[21]  D. Bavykin,et al.  Protonated Titanates and TiO2 Nanostructured Materials: Synthesis, Properties, and Applications , 2006 .

[22]  Weidong Shi,et al.  Hydrothermal synthetic strategies of inorganic semiconducting nanostructures. , 2013, Chemical Society reviews.

[23]  S. Mali,et al.  Microwave-assisted rapid synthesis of highly porous TiO2 thin films with nanocrystalline framework for efficient photoelectrochemical conversion , 2014 .

[24]  Haiyan Zhang,et al.  Improved performance of dye-sensitized solar cell based on TiO 2 photoanode with FTO glass and film both treated by TiCl 4 , 2016 .

[25]  E. Asl-Soleimani,et al.  Controlled growth of vertically aligned TiO2 nanorod arrays using the improved hydrothermal method and their application to dye-sensitized solar cells , 2016 .

[26]  L. Moradi,et al.  Synthesis of randomly directed inclined TiO 2 nanorods on the nanocrystalline TiO 2 layers and their optimized application in dye sensitized solar cells , 2017 .

[27]  K. V. Khot,et al.  An approach towards TiO2 chrysanthemum flowers with tunable properties: influence of reaction time in hydrothermal process , 2015, Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics.

[28]  A. Sedghi,et al.  Influence of TiCl4 Treatment on Structure and Performance of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells , 2013 .

[29]  Min Xi,et al.  Controllable hydrothermal synthesis of rutile TiO2 hollow nanorod arrays on TiCl4 pretreated Ti foil for DSSC application , 2014 .

[30]  Radhika V. Nair,et al.  A novel and efficient surfactant-free synthesis of Rutile TiO2 microflowers with enhanced photocatalytic activity , 2016 .

[31]  Chang Su Shim,et al.  Surfactant free most probable TiO2 nanostructures via hydrothermal and its dye sensitized solar cell properties , 2013, Scientific Reports.

[32]  Pham Van Viet,et al.  The Effect of Acid Treatment and Reactive Temperature on the Formation of TiO2 Nanotubes. , 2015, Journal of nanoscience and nanotechnology.

[33]  R. Doong,et al.  Microwave-assisted hydrothermal synthesis of mesoporous anatase TiO2 via sol―gel process for dye-sensitized solar cells , 2011 .

[34]  D. Scanlon,et al.  Small polarons in Nb- and Ta-doped rutile and anatase TiO2 , 2009 .

[35]  S. Navale,et al.  Enhanced DSSCs performance of TiO2 nanostructure by surface passivation layers , 2018 .

[36]  Peidong Yang,et al.  Nanowire dye-sensitized solar cells , 2005, Nature materials.

[37]  P. Patil,et al.  Dye sensitized solar cells based on hydrothermally grown TiO2 nanostars over nanorods , 2016 .

[38]  X. Qu,et al.  A facile hydrothermal synthesis and memristive switching performance of rutile TiO2 nanowire arrays , 2016 .

[39]  R. Devan,et al.  Photoelectrochemical solar cell based on surfactant mediated rutile TiO2 nanorods , 2015, Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics.