Abstract

HOSSEINPOUR-MASHKANI, S. Mostafa; MADDAHFAR, Mahnaz  and  SOBHANI-NASAB, Ali. Novel silver-doped NiTiO₃: auto-combustion synthesis, characterization and photovoltaic measurements. S.Afr.j.chem. (Online) [online]. 2017, vol.70, pp.44-48. ISSN 1996-840X.  http://dx.doi.org/10.17159/0379-4350/2017/v70a7.

Novel silver-doped nickel titanate nanoparticles (Ag-NiTiO₃) were successfully prepared via a sol-gel method in the presence of stearyl alcohol as the capping agent and solvent. The formation of pure crystallized nickel titanate and silver-doped nickel titanate was occurred when the precursor was heat-treated at 700 °C in air for 150 and 60 min, respectively. The structural, morphological, and optical properties of obtained products were characterized by techniques such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, Energy dispersive X-ray microanalysis (EDX), ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The magnetic property of the prepared Ag-NiTiO₃ nanoparticles was also investigated with vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). To fabricate a FTO/TiO₂/Ag-NiTiO₃/Pt-FTO solar cell, Ag-NiTiO₃ film was directly deposited on top of the TiO₂ prepared by electrophoresis deposition method. Furthermore, solar cell result indicates that an inexpensive solar cell could be developed by the synthesized Ag-NiTiO₃ nanoparticles.

Keywords : Ag-NiTiO₃; sol-gel method; semiconductor; photovoltaic; doping.

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