The synthesis of transparent TiO₂ photoelectrodes assisted by rheological agents triton X-100, PVP and F-127 for dye sensitized solar cells

In this work, the transparent TiO₂ photoelectrodes have been synthesized by the sol–gel method and the dip-coating technique, incorporating three rheological agents as porous template – Triton X-100, polivinilpirrolidone (M.W. 10000) and Pluronic F-127 into the TiO₂ sol for the application in dye-sensitized solar cells. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, m-lines and UV–Vis spectroscopy analyses were carried out to examine the chemical composition, structure, morphology, thickness and optical transmittance of the TiO₂ photoelectrodes. Impedance spectroscopy was carried out to analyze the cells’ behaviour. An average energy conversion efficiency of 1.04 % was achieved using triton as a modifier of the transparent TiO₂ film, obtaining a thickness about 1.21 µm, a crystallite size of about 7 nm in the anatase phase and the porosity of about 53.4 %. Triton proved to be efficient for obtaining transparent and porous semiconductor films, while increasing the photoelectrochemical device’s performance.