Facile synthesis route and characterizations of zinc orthotitanate nanoparticles tested for dye-sensitized solar cell DSSC applications

The mixture of Titanium-Zinc oxides is synthesized using two zinc sources for two synthesis methods. For the case of zinc nitrate in ethanol solution for sol-gel and zinc oxide for solid-state reaction, titanium dioxide was used in both preparations. A new preparation route was presented led to the preparation of Zn2TiO4 nanoparticles. The results of the materials mixture were confirmed by XRD and the particle size was determined by the Williamson-Hall method. The chemical and homogeneous nanoparticle sizes were confirmed by SEM and EDS analysis. SEM image of the fabricated photovoltaic cell was presented. The spectroscopy UV-V was used for determination of optical bandgap. The gap energies were found experimentally to be 2.93 eV and 3.22 eV for mixture contents of 55% and 38% of Zn2TiO4, respectively. The J-V test leads to the efficiency of DSSC based on mixture being slightly greater than based on ZnTiO3 commercial.

Automated summary

The mixture of Titanium-Zinc oxides was synthesized using two zinc sources and two synthesis methods, resulting in Zn2TiO4 nanoparticles. The properties of the materials were characterized using XRD, SEM, EDS, and UV-V spectroscopy.