Preparation of TiO2 nanocrystalline films controlled by acetylacetone/polyethylene glycol and their photoelectric properties

TiO2 nanocrystalline films were prepared from titanium tetra-n-butoxide modified with double hydrolysis inhibitors, acetylacetone and polyethylene glycol (PEG), in mixture of methanol and ethanol. The correlation among surface structure of the TiO2 films, preparation conditions, and photovoltaic properties of the solar cells using the TiO2 films was investigated. The particle size of the obtained TiO2 films was decreased as the PEG content increased. The nanostructured films with the narrow distribution of particle size could be prepared. The amounts of adsorbed dyes for these TiO2 films were larger than that without PEG. The performance of the solar cell fabricated using the TiO2 film improved as the amount of the PEG increased, and the solar cell using the TiO2 film prepared from the solution with 30 wt% PEG exhibited the highest performance.