Synthesis of TiO2 nanorods with a microwave assisted solvothermal method and their application as dye-sensitized solar cells

In this work, Titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanostructures have been synthesized via a microwave assisted solvothermal method using titanium tetraisopropoxide (TTIP), polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) and Ascorbic Acid (AA) in ethanol. The mole ratio of PVP/AA was found to be critical in determining the morphology and crystal phase of the final product. PVP/AA mole ratio was varied from 1 up to 15 to obtain different morphologies of TiO2. The structural analysis by XRD diffraction confirmed formation of titanium dioxide. The Williamson-Hall (W-H) analysis was used to study the individual contributions of crystallite sizes and lattice strain on the peak broadening of the TiO2 nanoparticles. FTIR spectrum was used to estimate the various functional groups present in the nanostructures. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) images demonstrated nanoparticle, short nanorod, and long nanorods for 5, 10 and 15 mole ratio of PVP/AA respectively. TiO2 nanoparticles and nanorods have been used as photoelectrode in dye-synthesized solar cell (DSSCs) fabrication. The efficiencies of solar cells were calculated 3.23% and 4.01% for nanoparticles and nanorods, respectively.