Microwave assisted solvothermal synthesis of quasi cubic F dopedTiO(2)nanostructures and its performance as dye sensitized solar cell photoanode

By the process of doping in semiconducting nanomaterials, properties of the materials such as electronic, optical and photochemical properties can be effectively tuned. Here fluorine doped TiO(2)nanostructures were synthesized by microwave assisted solvothermal technique. The X-ray diffraction patterns (XRD) and Raman analysis results of the sample exhibits peaks characteristic of anatase TiO2. From the UV-visible absorption analysis, an increase in visible light absorption with no significant change in the absorption edge was noticed. F doped TiO(2)nanostructures were found to possess quasi cubic morphology through the transmission electron microscope images and from the presence of well-defined ring pattern in selected area electron diffraction patterns the polycrystalline nature of the samples were confirmed. The presence of fluorine in the TiO(2)lattice was confirmed through the presence of Ti(3+)states using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) analysis respectively. The prepared TiO2, F doped TiO(2)nanostructures were coated over fluorine doped tin oxide (FTO) substrates, further they were subjected to dye sensitization and were used as photoanodes in dye sensitized solar cells and their power conversion efficiencies were studied.