Synthesis of Nanoporous TiO2and Its Potential Applicability for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell Using Antocyanine Black Rice

Abstract

Nanoporous mesostructure TiO2powders were synthesized by sol-gel method, withTiCl4as a precursor in methanol solution. The Pluronic PE 6200 of block copolymer was used as the pores template. It was found from XRD measurements, both at400∘C and450∘C calcination temperatures, that the sol-gel technique yielded the nanoporous TiO2with anatase phase. Based onN2adsorption characterization using BET method, the TiO2samples have surface area of 108 m2/g and 88 m2/g for calcination temperatures of400∘C and of450∘C, respectively. From small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) patterns, TiO2samples were observed to have nanoporous structures with pore sizes between 22–24 nm. The TiO2also have order degree which depends on the calcination temperature. The potential applicability of the resulting TiO2is confirmed for dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC), composed of nanoporous anatase TiO2and natural dye from antocyanine black rice. UV-Vis measurement of dye extracted from the black rice indicated that the antocyanine chelate can propagate into the TiO2nanoporous network. The short circuit photocurrent density (Jsc) under 100 mWcm−2reached 1.287 mAcm−2with open circuit photovoltage (Voc) of 550 mV and the fill factor of 33.4%. The results show that the hybrid organic-inorganic structures are very attractive for future low-cost devices.