Rapid Growth of TiO₂ Nanoflowers via Low-Temperature Solution Process: Photovoltaic and Sensing Applications

• Published in: Materials Vol. 12; no. 4; p. 566
• Main Authors: Akhtar, M Shaheer, Umar, Ahmad, Sood, Swati, Jung, InSung, Hegazy, H H, Algarni, H
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 14-02-2019; MDPI
• Subjects: chemical sensor; Chemicals; Dyes; Efficiency; Enlargement; Ethanol; Fourier transforms; Glass substrates; Low temperature; Metal oxides; Morphology; Nanomaterials; nitroaniline; Photocatalysis; photovoltaic device; Polyethylene glycol; Room temperature; sensitivity; Sensors; Spectrum analysis; Substrates; TiO2 nanoflowers; Titanium; Titanium dioxide; VOCs; Volatile organic compounds; Zinc oxides; United Kingdom > UK; United States > US; Japan; chemical sensor; TiO2 nanoflowers; nitroaniline; sensitivity; photovoltaic device
• ISSN: 1996-1944; 1996-1944
• DOI: 10.3390/ma12040566

This paper reports the rapid synthesis, characterization, and photovoltaic and sensing applications of TiO₂ nanoflowers prepared by a facile low-temperature solution process. The morphological characterizations clearly reveal the high-density growth of a three-dimensional flower-shaped structure composed of small petal-like rods. The detailed properties confirmed that the synthesized nanoflowers exhibited high crystallinity with anatase phase and possessed an energy bandgap of 3.2 eV. The synthesized TiO₂ nanoflowers were utilized as photo-anode and electron-mediating materials to fabricate dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) and liquid nitroaniline sensor applications. The fabricated DSSC demonstrated a moderate conversion efficiency of ~3.64% with a maximum incident photon to current efficiency (IPCE) of ~41% at 540 nm. The fabricated liquid nitroaniline sensor demonstrated a good sensitivity of ~268.9 μA mM
cm
with a low detection limit of 1.05 mM in a short response time of 10 s.