To Synthesize TiO₂Nanostructure Under Chemical Methods And Its Application In Dye-sensitized Solar Cell

As a fine material widely used in solar cells, electrochromic devices and anexcellent photocatalyst, Titanium dioxide (TiO2) has attracted more and moreattention. It is classified as three crystals: rutile, anatase and brookite. It is moresuitable as a solar cell device material because of the advantage of rutile such as thehigh chemical stability, specific surface area and low cost. There are many methodsfor preparing titanium dioxide. Among these ways, hydrothermal method is apromising method which has the advantages of low cost, simple process, the bettercrystal preparation without subsequent processing.This paper adopts the titanium trichloride as titanium source. The three dimensionnano-petals structures rutile TiO2are synthesized by chemical hydrothermal method atlow temperature. There are many factors that affect the properties of TiO2nanostructure including reaction temperature, reaction time and concentration. Theinfluence of the PH of the precursor solution on the formation of TiO2nanostructure,however, has not been studied thoroughly. Involved in the solution such asHydrochloric acid (HCl) or urea ((NH2)2CO) reagent, the PH of the solution can becontrolled by the ratio of both. During the experiment, which involves the hydrolysisreaction of Ti3+, changing the PH of the solution will affect the speed of the reactionrate and film thickness. Therefore, the PH of the solution affects the surfacemorphology of the TiO2nanostructure. The growth of TiO2with different PH showsunequable states. Through the observation and characterization of the experimentalresults, we can optimize the PH of the growth environment to obtain rutile TiO2three-dimensional nanoflower structure with a particle size of2?m. In addition, wealso study the precursor solution mixing time and the species of additive in theprecursor solution effect on synthesis of TiO2nano structure. Through the study ofthese three factors which affecting the synthesis of TiO2nanostructure, the growth ofTiO2nanostructure can be controlled by us.Finally, the optimal TiO2nanostructure is prepared by screen printing method toacquire the photoanode. Next, it will be assembled in Dye-Sensitized SolarCell(DSSC). For comparison, commercial P25is prepared under the same conditionin DSSC. The performances of DSSC assembled with them are tested and compared.The experimental results show that chemically synthesized TiO2nanostructuredemonstrates a more excellent performance on the photoelectric conversionefficiency.