MOF-derived Co2+-doped TiO2 nanoparticles as photoanodes for dye-sensitized solar cells

R Krishnapriya; C Nizamudeen; B Saini; M Sayem Mozumder; Rakesh K Sharma; A-H I Mourad

doi:10.1038/s41598-021-95844-4

MOF-derived Co²⁺-doped TiO₂ nanoparticles as photoanodes for dye-sensitized solar cells

Sci Rep. 2021 Aug 11;11(1):16265. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-95844-4.

Authors

R Krishnapriya^{1

2}, C Nizamudeen¹, B Saini², M Sayem Mozumder³, Rakesh K Sharma², A-H I Mourad^{4

5

6}

Affiliations

¹ Mechanical Engineering Department, College of Engineering, United Arab Emirate University, Al Ain 15551, UAE.
² Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Jodhpur, Jodhpur, 342037, Rajasthan, India.
³ Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, College of Engineering, United Arab Emirate University, Al Ain, 15551, UAE.
⁴ Mechanical Engineering Department, College of Engineering, United Arab Emirate University, Al Ain 15551, UAE. ahmourad@uaeu.ac.ae.
⁵ National Water and Energy Centre, United Arab Emirate University, Al Ain, 15551, UAE. ahmourad@uaeu.ac.ae.
⁶ On Leave From Mechanical Design Department, Faculty of Engineering, Helwan University, Cairo, Egypt. ahmourad@uaeu.ac.ae.

Abstract

Facile synthesis and application of nano-sized semiconductor metal oxides for optoelectronic devices have always affected fabrication challenges since it involves multi-step synthesis processes. In this regard, semiconductor oxides derived directly from metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) routes have gained a great deal of scientific interest owing to their high specific surface area, regular and tunable pore structures. Exploring the application potential of these MOF-derived semiconductor oxides systems for clean energy conversion and storage devices is currently a hot topic of research. In this study, titanium-based MIL-125(Ti) MOFs were used as a precursor to synthesize cobalt-doped TiO₂-based dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) for the first time. The thermal decomposition of the MOF precursor under an air atmosphere at 400 °C resulted in mesoporous anatase-type TiO₂ nanoparticles (NPs) of uniform morphology, large surface area with narrow pore distribution. The Co²⁺ doping in TiO₂ leads to enhanced light absorption in the visible region. When used as photoanode in DSSCs, a good power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 6.86% with good photocurrent density (Jsc) of 13.96 mA cm^-2 was obtained with the lowest recombination resistance and the longest electron lifetime, which is better than the performance of the pristine TiO₂-based photoanode.

Abstract

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