Synthesis of Undoped TiO2 and Co Doped TiO2 Photoanode Powders for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

EasyChair Preprint 6229

Abstract

Although many parameters affect the efficiency of Dye Sensitized Solar Cell (DSSC), one of the main components of the cell, photoanode materials, comes first among the parameters that most affect the cell performance. The most common titanium dioxide (TiO2) is used as the semiconductor layer for photoanode materials, which directly provides some of the high performance achieved in DSSC[1]. In recent years, it is seen that studies on metal doping to pure TiO2 have increased rapidly in the literature[2-5]. In particular, cationic additives prolong the absorption of visible light and increase the high temperature stability of anatase phase TiO2. This increases the photocatalytic activity of TiO2[6]. Different types of elements are used while modifying the TiO2 photoanode[7]. Depending on the type of elements used, certain properties of the TiO2 photoanode are improved and more efficient use of incoming light is ensured.

In this paper, the ionic radius of Co+2(0.74 Å) was chosen because it is close to the ionic radius of Ti4+(0.60 Å)[8]. In this study, the synthesis of undoped TiO2 and Co doped TiO2 compounds as photoanode material in a DSSC was made. Undoped TiO2 powders and Co doped TiO2 powders were synthesized via the sol-gel method. Here, 10% Co metal was doped to TiO2. SEM/EDX and particle size analyzes of the synthesized TiO2 powders were performed and the results were compared. It was observed that the powders were successfully synthesized by EDX analysis. Particle size distribution analysis showed that undoped TiO2 had smaller particle size than Co-doped TiO2.

Keyphrases: Dye-sensitized solar cell, TiO2, photo-anode, sol-gel, synthesis

@booklet{EasyChair:6229,
  author    = {Fatma Aydın Ünal},
  title     = {Synthesis of Undoped TiO2 and Co Doped TiO2 Photoanode Powders for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells},
  howpublished = {EasyChair Preprint 6229},
  year      = {EasyChair, 2021}}