Facile synthesis and characterization of Ti (1−x) Cu x O 2 nanoparticles for high efficiency dye sensitized solar cell applications

Abstract In this study, we demonstrate the facile synthesis of Ti(1−x)CuxO2 (x = 0.0, 0.03, 0.06 and 0.09) nanoparticles through solvothermal microwave irradiation (SMI) technique and explored their photocatalytic applications. A combined analysis of XRD, FESEM and TEM studies indicate that doping of Cu2+ in TiO2 lattice do not affect the microstructure of the particles. The UV–Vis. absorption study indicates that the introduction of Cu element lead to decrease in optical bandgap of TiO2 from 3.450 eV to 3.155 eV (for x = 0.0 to 0.09). By using Ti(1−x)CuxO2 nanoparticles photoanodes were prepared on transparent conductive fluorine doped tin oxide substrates by doctor-blade technique. The dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) were assembled and an analysis was made to evaluate the variations in open-circuit voltage depending on the concentration of Cu in Ti(1−x)CuxO2. The optimum efficiency of 6.51% was found at Ti0.94Cu0.06O2 based DSSCs, which gives an efficiency improved by 4% compared with that of the cells based on pure TiO2 (6.26%). This work demonstrates that Ti(1−x)CuxO2 is a most fascinating material and has great potential for application in photoenergy conversion devices.