Sol-gel synthesized mesoporous anatase titanium dioxide nanoparticles for dye sensitized solar cell (DSSC) applications

Hierarchically structured titanium dioxide nanoparticles were successfully synthesized by the sol-gel method. The synthesized nanoparticles were subjected to powder X-ray diffraction, UV-Vis DRS spectroscopy, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller method, Barrett-Joyner-Halenda analysis, field emission scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray analysis. The powder X-ray diffraction pattern shows that the obtained particles are of anatase phase with good crystallite nature. The nitrogen adsorption and desorption isotherms show that the prepared material has surface area of 31.71 m(2) g(-1) and the pore size distribution analysis shows the average pore diameters of mesoporous TiO2 nanostructures to be 7.1 and 9.3 nm. The UV-Vis DRS spectrum shows that the TiO2 nanoparticles are having absorption in the ultraviolet region. The optical band gap of the nanoparticles is 3.2 eV. The morphological studies show the morphology of the particles as spherical in shape. The elemental compositions of TiO2 nanoparticles were confirmed by energy-dispersive X-ray spectrum analysis. The conversion efficiency of the solar cell was 3.415% with open-circuit voltage (V (oc)), short-circuit current (J (sc)) and fill factor (FF) of 0.607 V, 13.206 mA cm(-2) and 42.56%, respectively.