The synthesis of transparent TiO2 photoelectrodes assisted by rheological agent (triton x-100, PVP and F-127) for dye sensitized solar cells

Abstract

In this work, the transparent TiO2 photoelectrodes have been synthesized by the sol–gel method and the dip-coating technique, incorporating three rheological agents as porous template – Triton X-100, polivinilpirrolidone (M.W. 10000) and Pluronic F-127 into the TiO2 sol for the application in dye- -sensitized solar cells. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, m-lines and UV–Vis spectroscopy analyses were carried out to examine the chemical composition, structure, morphology, thickness and optical transmittance of the TiO2 photoelectrodes. Impedance spectroscopy was carried out to analyze the cells’ behaviour. An average energy conversion efficiency of 1.04 % was achieved using triton as a modifier of the transparent TiO2 film, obtaining a thickness about 1.21 μm, a crystallite size of about 7 nm in the anatase phase and the porosity of about 53.4 %. Triton proved to be efficient for obtaining transparent and porous semiconductor films, while increasing the photoelectrochemical device’s performance.

Keywords

• transparent films
• photoelectrodes
• sol-gel
• anatase