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Microwave-assisted hydrothermal synthesis and characterization of TiO2 microspheres for efficient dye-sensitized solar cells

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Abstract

Mesoporous TiO2 microspheres (MS) have been synthesized by a microwave-assisted hydrothermal technique. The samples were analyzed by XRD analysis, and it reveals the tetragonal phase of the TiO2 anatase with better crystallinity. The morphological characterization of TiO2 MS was investigated by FESEM and HRTEM. Bright spots observed from SAED analysis helped in determining the crystalline nature of the microspheres. The synthesized products have a surface area and average pore diameter of 89 m2g−1 and 11.28 nm. The power conversion efficiency of TiO2 MS-based device exhibits a higher PCE of 7.40% compared to commercial P25-based (4.48%) device. The enhanced performance of DSSC is due to its strong light-scattering ability and excellent dye loading capacity of TiO2 microspheres. Electrochemical impedance spectral analysis showed that TiO2 microspheres-based device contributes to a higher electron lifetime and increased efficiency.

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Data availability

The whole datasets generated during and /or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the Sri Sivasubramaniya Nadar (SSN) Trust.

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The authors have not disclosed any funding.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, SSN Research Centre, Sri Sivasubramaniya Nadar College of Engineering, Kalavakkam, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, 603110, India

    B. Vasanth, R. Govindaraj & P. Ramasamy

Authors
  1. B. Vasanth
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  2. R. Govindaraj
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  3. P. Ramasamy
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by BV, RG, and PR. The first draft of the manuscript was written by BV and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to R. Govindaraj.

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Vasanth, B., Govindaraj, R. & Ramasamy, P. Microwave-assisted hydrothermal synthesis and characterization of TiO2 microspheres for efficient dye-sensitized solar cells. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 33, 17660–17667 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-022-08629-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-022-08629-4

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