Novel silver-doped NiTiO3: auto-combustion synthesis, characterization and photovoltaic measurements

Novel silver-doped nickel titanate nanoparticles (Ag-NiTiO 3 ) were successfully prepared via a sol-gel method in the presence of stearyl alcohol as the capping agent and solvent.The formation of pure crystallized nickel titanate and silver-doped nickel titanate was occurred when the precursor was heat-treated at 700 °C in air for 150 and 60 min, respectively.The structural, morphological, and optical properties of obtained products were characterized by techniques such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, Energy dispersive X-ray microanalysis (EDX), ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM).The magnetic property of the prepared Ag-NiTiO 3 nanoparticles was also investigated with vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM).To fabricate a FTO/TiO 2 /Ag-NiTiO 3 /Pt-FTO solar cell, Ag-NiTiO 3 film was directly deposited on top of the TiO 2 prepared by electrophoresis deposition method.Furthermore, solar cell result indicates that an inexpensive solar cell could be developed by the synthesized Ag-NiTiO 3 nanoparticles.KEYWORDS Ag-NiTiO 3 , sol