Synthesis and Characterization of Spinel-Type NiCr2O4 Nanocrystalline

Abstract

In this article, spinel–type NiCr2O4 Nanocrystalline were prepared by the citrate method. After doping it into P25 (degussa, TiO2), NiCr2O4/TiO2 thin film photoanode were prepared by screen printing process on the surface of Fluorine Tin Oxide (FTO) Glass. And then they were assembled into Dye sensitized TiO2 Nanocrystalline solar cells (DSSC). The as–prepared NiCr2O4 powders were characterized by differential thermal analysis/thermo gravimetry (DTA/TG), X–ray diffraction (XRD) and ultraviolet visible (Uv–Vis) diffuse spectra. The properties of the solar cells were investigated by Solar Simular and Keithley Sourcemeter, respectively. The results showed that the grain size of the NiCr2O4 particles obtained at optimum synthesis temperature (1000 °C) was about 40.23 nm and the band gap was 1.8ev. The cell properties increased when the doping amount of NiCr2O4 was 1wt%. The open–circuit voltage (Voc) of Dye Sensitized TiO2 Nanocrystalline Solar Cell was from 0.71V up to 0.73V, The short–circuit photocurrent (Jsc) of DSSC increased from 5.21mA·cm-2 to 6.95mA·cm-2. The photoelectric conversion efficiency (η) was from 2.40% up to 3.14%, which was 30.8% higher than the pure TiO2 thin film photoanode.