Sol-gel growth of TiO2 nanocrystals in n-heptan and their deposition for application in dye sensitized solar cells

In this study, TiO2 nanocrystals were prepared by sol-gel method through the hydrolysis of the titanium tetraisopropoxide in n-heptan solution. The beneficial role of n-heptan solvent was the dilution of the reacting precursors. This could consequently create smaller TiO2 nanocrystals and a better powder effective area. The anatase phase TiO2 nanopowder was achieved by performing an annealing process at 450 ˚C for 1h. Then, the TiO2 nanocrystals were added to an aqueous solution of polyethylene glycol with suitable concentration, as a pastiness factor, to form a viscous TiO2 paste . Finally the prepared paste was deposited on glass FTO substrates by standard doctor blade method and the photoanode of the dye sensitized solar cells  was prepared.Then other steps, consisting of dye adsorption, preparation of platinum counter electrode and injection of  electrolyte were performed. The results demonstrated that the energy conversion efficiency was maximum for the cell with 15 μm photoanode thickness. The photovoltaic parameters of this cell were measured as 12.44 mA/cm2 , 655 mV, 0.55 and 4.4 % for the Jsc, Voc, FF and efficiency, respectively.&nbsp