Titanium dioxide hollow spheres for hybrid solar cells

Full text: Titanium dioxide has been attracting attention due to its special characters, such as photocatalytic activity and possible structures, which indicate its potential application in low-cost solar cells. Among all titanium dioxide structures applied in hybrid solar cells, hollow structure has attracted interest because of its properties in dye-sensitized solar cells, including higher specific surface area and enhanced light scattering. Besides, its lower density and better permeation to solution-processed solar cells provide a new approach to efficient hybrid solar cells. In this work, titanium dioxide hollow spheres are synthetized by controlled hydrolysis of titanium isopropoxide in ethanol followed by crystallization in a Teflon-lined autoclave at 180 °C in different ammonium fluoride proportions. As a demonstration of a potential application, these anatase hollow spheres were used as a material able to incorporate the perovskite methyl ammonium lead iodide. The obtained materials were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, Xray diffraction and current-potential curves. (author)