Mesoporous TiO2 Film (mesoporou + tio2_film)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Ordered Mesoporous Thin Films of Rutile TiO2 Nanocrystals Mixed with Amorphous Ta2O5

CHEMPHYSCHEM, Issue 5 2008
Jin-Ming Wu Dr.
Abstract Ordered mesoporous thin films of composites of rutile TiO2 nanocrystals with amorphous Ta2O5 are fabricated by evaporation-induced self-assembly followed by subsequent heat treatment beyond 780,°C. Incorporation of selected amounts of Ta2O5 (20 mol,%) in the mesoporous TiO2 film, together with the unique mesoporous structure itself, increased the onset of crystallization temperature which is high enough to ensure the crystallization of amorphous titania to rutile. The ordered mesoporous structure benefits from a block-copolymer template, which stabilizes the mesostructure of the amorphous mixed oxides before crystallization. The surface and in-depth composition analysis by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy suggests a homogeneous intermixing of the two oxides in the thin film. A detailed X-ray absorption fine structure measurement on the composite film containing 20 mol,% Ta2O5 and heated to 800,°C confirms the amorphous nature of the Ta2O5 phase. Photocatalytic activity evaluation suggests that the rutile nanocrystals in the synthesized ordered mesoporous thin film possess good ability to assist the photodegradation of rhodamine B in water under illumination by UV light. [source]


Electropolymerization and Electrochromic Properties of Poly(3-bromothiophene) Films on a Transparent Nano-mesoporous TiO2 Surface

CHINESE JOURNAL OF CHEMISTRY, Issue 11 2008
He XU
A novel method for electrodeposition of poly(3-bromothiophene) film onto nano- and mesoporous TiO2 film was developed. The PBrT/TiO2 exhibited excellent electrochromic properties with good coloration efficiency and high chromatic contrast, which could be a commercially promising electrochromic material. [source]


PbS and CdS Quantum Dot-Sensitized Solid-State Solar Cells: "Old Concepts, New Results"

ADVANCED FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS, Issue 17 2009
HyoJoong Lee
Abstract Lead sulfide (PbS) and cadmium sulfide (CdS) quantum dots (QDs) are prepared over mesoporous TiO2 films by a successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) process. These QDs are exploited as a sensitizer in solid-state solar cells with 2,2,,7,7,-tetrakis(N,N -di- p -methoxyphenylamine)-9,9,-spirobifluorene (spiro-OMeTAD) as a hole conductor. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images reveal that PbS QDs of around 3,nm in size are distributed homogeneously over the TiO2 surface and are well separated from each other if prepared under common SILAR deposition conditions. The pore size of the TiO2 films and the deposition medium are found to be very critical in determining the overall performance of the solid-state QD cells. By incorporating promising inorganic QDs (PbS) and an organic hole conductor spiro-OMeTAD into the solid-state cells, it is possible to attain an efficiency of over 1% for PbS-sensitized solid-state cells after some optimizations. The optimized deposition cycle of the SILAR process for PbS QDs has also been confirmed by transient spectroscopic studies on the hole generation of spiro-OMeTAD. In addition, it is established that the PbS QD layer plays a role in mediating the interfacial recombination between the spiro-OMeTAD+ cation and the TiO2 conduction band electron, and that the lifetime of these species can change by around 2 orders of magnitude by varying the number of SILAR cycles used. When a near infrared (NIR)-absorbing zinc carboxyphthalocyanine dye (TT1) is added on top of the PbS-sensitized electrode to obtain a panchromatic response, two signals from each component are observed, which results in an improved efficiency. In particular, when a CdS-sensitized electrode is first prepared, and then co-sensitized with a squarine dye (SQ1), the resulting color change is clearly an addition of each component and the overall efficiencies are also added in a more synergistic way than those in PbS/TT1-modified cells because of favorable charge-transfer energetics. [source]


Pore-Filling of Spiro-OMeTAD in Solid-State Dye Sensitized Solar Cells: Quantification, Mechanism, and Consequences for Device Performance

ADVANCED FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS, Issue 15 2009
I-Kang Ding
Abstract In this paper, the pore filling of spiro-OMeTAD (2,2,,7,7,-tetrakis-(N,N -di- p -methoxyphenylamine)9,9,-spirobifluorene) in mesoporous TiO2 films is quantified for the first time using XPS depth profiling and UV,Vis absorption spectroscopy. It is shown that spiro-OMeTAD can penetrate the entire depth of the film, and its concentration is constant throughout the film. We determine that in a 2.5-µm-thick film, the volume of the pores is 60,65% filled. The pores become less filled when thicker films are used. Such filling fraction is much higher than the solution concentration because the excess solution on top of the film can act as a reservoir during the spin coating process. Lastly, we demonstrate that by using a lower spin coating speed and higher spiro-OMeTAD solution concentration, we can increase the filling fraction and consequently the efficiency of the device. [source]