Synthesis of Ag-doped TiO2/MWCNT for DSSC application

The low-cost hydrothermal process can synthesize TiO2/MWCNT with different doping concentrations of Ag. Synthesized substances were investigated by advanced electrical and spectroscopic methods like XRD, UV-vis, Photo Luminescence (P.L.), and Raman spectroscopy. The x-ray diffraction investigation revealed the crystallographic phase of TiO2/MWCNT, remain unchanged by doping TiO2 with different molar ratios of Ag. The morphology of TiO2 was examined by TEM, which suggested the shape of the particle is spherical, and it was agglomerated over the surface of MWCNT. The mean particle size of titanium dioxide was found to be 25 nm. The UV-vis analysis confirmed the red shifting of Ag-doped TiO2. This could be due to the surface plasmonic phenomena of Ag nanoparticles. P.L. spectra reveal two peaks at 360 nm (U.V. regime) and 480 nm (blue/green) regimes. These peaks are attributed to the intrinsic defects in the titanium dioxide crystal. Additionally, MWCNT enhances electron mobility on the working electrode side. Various electrical techniques examined the performance of the cell. DSSC synthesized under such conditions shows an increase in photocurrent density resulting in a 6.95% improvement in the conversion efficiency. The interfacial charge transfer phenomena of DSSC were also studied using Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) analysis. The internal resistance of the cell is found to be 22 ohms. The efficiency of our synthesized solar cell is stable and eventually contributes up to 1000h of its use.