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Rapid Synthesis of Mesoporous TiO 2 for the Photoanodes in Dye Sensitized Solar Cells
Author(s) -
Deka Juti Rani,
Wang Hong Wen
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
journal of the chinese chemical society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.329
H-Index - 45
eISSN - 2192-6549
pISSN - 0009-4536
DOI - 10.1002/jccs.201300449
Subject(s) - mesoporous material , bet theory , dye sensitized solar cell , transmission electron microscopy , chemical engineering , hydrothermal circulation , nanotechnology , chemistry , specific surface area , scanning electron microscope , nanocrystal , energy conversion efficiency , nuclear chemistry , materials science , catalysis , optoelectronics , organic chemistry , composite material , electrode , engineering , electrolyte
Mesoporous TiO 2 microspheres with high specific surface areas were synthesized by means of a facile one‐step microwave hydrothermal process without using any template. The mesoporous materials were rapidly achieved using TiCl 4 , urea and ammonium sulphate at comparatively low microwave power (400 W) for 8 min irradiation. The morphology and microstructure of the as‐prepared products were characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), X‐ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Brunauer‐Emmett‐Teller (BET) surface area analysis. Structural characterization indicates that the TiO 2 microspheres display mesoporous structure. The average pore sizes and BET surface areas of the spheres were 5.3 nm and 222 m 2 g −1 , respectively. The mesoporous nanocrystals synthesized at 160 °C for 8 min were then used to prepare the photoanode for dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). A high power conversion efficiency of 5.72% was achieved from the mesoporous TiO 2 based photoanode, representing about 25.7% improvement over the efficiency of P25 photoanode.