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Abstract

Introduction: Solar energy has been one of the most active research areas in the last decade because it is environmental friendly with respect to conventional energy resources. Titanium dioxide (TiO2) is a promising oxide material that has useful electrical and optical properties. It has been extensively investigated for photovoltaic applications. Anatase titania (TiO2) is a well known n-type inorganic metal oxide semiconductor, it is transparent to visible light and has a high refractive index. TiO2 thin films have successfully been used in preparation of solar energy cells. Sol-gel is widely used because of its simplicity, commercial viability, and potential for cost effective mass production. It is also used for industrial fabrication because of its low-cost availability. Objectives: The effects of substrate types and thickness on structural, morphological and optical properties of dip-coated TiO2 thin films for applicability usage in solar cells were studied. Methods: TiO2 films have been prepared by sol-gel dip coating technique, using titanium isopropoxide (TIP) as precursors. The structure and the phase of TiO2 films were analyzed by x-ray diffraction which showed that films were anatase. Optical properties of the films were characterized by ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy and ellipsometry. Results: The optical band gap was calculated for anatase film layers 50, 100, 150 and 200nm at 3.95, 3.87, 3.75 and 3.70eV, respectively. The refractive index of the films were computed by ellipsometry which were in the range of 1.9 to 2.3 and a wavelength range from 380 to 600nm. The thickness of the films was obtained from ellipsometry as of 58nm per one dip. The surfaces of TiO2 thin films were analyzed by a scanning electron microscope (SEM), atomic force microscope (AFM) and energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS). The images obtained by SEM showed cracks and shrinkage particles in the film, whereas the images obtained by AFM showed a homogeneous distribution of elongated shapes of nanoparticles through the film. In addition, the composition of TiO2 thin films checked via EDS found a small amount of Ti. Conclusion: The results showed that anatase titania (TiO2) nanomaterials have a promised potential for applications in solar cells.

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/content/papers/10.5339/qfarf.2012.EEP17
2012-10-01
2024-03-28
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http://instance.metastore.ingenta.com/content/papers/10.5339/qfarf.2012.EEP17
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