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Preparation and Performance of Ordered Porous TiO2 Film Doped with Gd3+

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Abstract

An organic template of polystyrene colloidal crystals was fabricated through dip-coating in a polystyrene emulsion. Based on the template, an ordered porous TiO2 film doped with Gd3+ was deposited on a conductive glass. x-ray diffractometry (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), UV-vis spectroscopy were used to characterize the structures and properties of the film. The as-produced film was used as an electrode in dye-sensitized solar cells with a sandwich structure. XRD showed that anatase TiO2 was obtained. SEM images clearly demonstrated that these films had an ordered porous structure, mainly in a hexagonal orientation. UV-vis spectroscopy revealed that the absorption was improved in both the ultraviolet and the visible areas. Under simulated solar illumination, a short circuit current of 0.618 mA and an open circuit voltage of 0.538 V were attained, which were better than the performances of only a TiO2 film electrode and an ordered porous TiO2 film electrode.

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Acknowledgments

This study is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 20976016), the Hunan Natural Science Foundation (Grant No. 09JJ6067), and the Hunan Municipal Science and Technology Project (Grant No. 08FJ1002).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Changsha University of Science and Technology, Changsha, 410004, China

    Yi Zhou, Hong Li, DeHui Shi, CaiXia Lv, MingMing Dang & Wen Lou

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  1. Yi Zhou
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  2. Hong Li
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  3. DeHui Shi
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  4. CaiXia Lv
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  5. MingMing Dang
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Correspondence to Yi Zhou.

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Zhou, Y., Li, H., Shi, D. et al. Preparation and Performance of Ordered Porous TiO2 Film Doped with Gd3+ . J. of Materi Eng and Perform 20, 1319–1322 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11665-010-9767-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11665-010-9767-1

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