SOL-GEL SYNTHESIS OF TIO2 NANOSTRUCTURED POWDERS FOR APPLICATIONS IN SOLAR CELLS

R. PARRA; M.S. GÓES; E.C. MUNIZ; P.R. BUENO; J.A. VARELA

Búzios

Congreso; Sixth International Latin American Conference on Powder Technology; 2007

Metallum - Associação Brasileira de cerâmica

The efficient light-to-energy conversion of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) requires a sensitized semiconductor electrode with a high surface area. In this work, titanium isopropoxide was used as precursor for the synthesis of TiO2 powders with a nanoscaled size distribution to be used in DSSC electrodes. The sol-gel route was optimized in order to render exclusively the anatase phase. The pH was kept between 5-6 during hydrolysis and condensation. After evaporation of the solvents, and washing with 2-propanol and water, powders were calcined in the temperature range of 200-450ºC and ball milled for 2h. The powders were characterized with TEM, SEM-FEG, ASAP and XRD. A Rietveld refinement was carried out in order to correlate the powder composition and thermal treatment with the unit cell distortion and microstructure (strain and crystallite size).