EFFECT OF TWO DEFERENT SNTERNG PROCESSES ON THE MICROSTRUCTURE PROPERTIES OF NANO-TiO, DERVED BY SOL-GEL AND GEL COMBUSTION METHODS

In this work, an attempt is made to study the effects of two different sintering processes including sol-gel and gel combustion on the microstructure properties of nano-TiO, powder used in dye solar cells.TiO2 has attracted great attention in the field of solar energy as powder used in dye sensitized solar cells and there are many methods for preparing nano particles of it. Sol gel is a novel method of TiO2 synthesis that offers advantages such as high purity, good homogeneity and low processing temperature. Gel combustion synthesis offers advantages such as low energy requirements, simple equipment and a short operation time because of exothermic reaction among the raw materials. In gel combustion procedure we first synthesized TiO(NO3)2 by titanium tetra isopropoxide, deionized water and nitric acid and used urea, glycine and citric acid as fuel. In the other method we first made two different sols. One includes titanium tetra isopropoxide, aceton acetal and isopropanol and the other one includes isopropanol, deionized water and nitric acid. The crystal structures of TiO2 nanopowders were examined by XRD and their morphology and crystal size were investigated by SEM. The crystal size of the nanopowders with anatase structure was found in the range of 11-15 nm. in gel combustion method and 30-40 nm in sol-gel method. Among different heat treatment 2 Mehrmoosh Hoorconditions, the best calcination temperature and time was found 450° C and 90 min. In the present study the possibility of the application of these powders to dye solar cells was also investigated.

Keywords:

Nano-TiO , Synthesis , Gel Combustion , Sol-Gel