Characterization of hydrothermally synthesized nanocrystalline titanium dioxide and their potential application in dye sensitive solar cells (DSSCs)

摘要

Nanocrystalline titanium dioxide (TiO_2) was successfully synthesized using simple hydrothermal method. Synthesized nanocrystalline TiO_2 was characterized using X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), Energy Dispersive of X-Ray (EDAX) and Fourier Transform Infra-Red (FTIR). XRD patterns showed sharp and narrow peaks belong to polycrystalline tetragonal anatase TiO_2 phase. The crystallite size of TiO_2 was found to be 20 nm calculated from (101) XRD peaks using scherrer equation. SEM observations revealed uniform distribution of spherical-shaped grains consists of titanium and oxygen elements as confirmed by EDX analysis. For potential application in dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), the electrical conductivity of nanocrystallite TiO_2 thin film was measured using four point probe at different concentration of TiO_2.