Abstract
TiO2 nanoparticles were produced from a commercial anatase powder through a wet milling process. The effect of grinding intensity, which is directly dependent on the operating parameters, was analyzed and the performance of polyethylene glycol (PEG400) as a dispersing agent in the milling system was also tested. The results showed that the processes using polyethylene glycol achieved a greater fragmentation of particles. This could be observed in the histograms made from SEM images taken from samples of powders from the processes, whose populations reached an average size of approximately 90 nm. The TiO2 powders obtained by milling were then used in the manufacture of dye-sensitized solar cells. It was verified that the powders produced using the dispersing agent achieved the greatest efficiencies, the highest being 0.94%. The current produced by the cells proved to be very low compared to the voltages obtained which gave acceptable values up to 0.81 V.
Highlights
Mechanical milling is considered to fall within the so-called “top-down” techniques [1], since it uses defragmentation from the collision between the grinding bodies and the dust particles to be grinded. This method has been attracting great interest for the study of nanoparticle formation [2]-[5] since it is highly feasible from a technical and economic perspective because of simplicity of the process [6]. This paper applies this technique to titanium dioxide TiO2, a material of great technological interest at present and which has many applications in various fields ranging from photovoltaics and photocatalysis to electrochromism and gas sensors [7], because of its exceptional electrical, optical and physical-chemical properties [8]
Diffraction patterns keep the characteristic peaks of the starting powder corresponding to the anatase phase. This clearly shows that the wet milling, regardless of the parameters used in the process, does not change the initial structure of the anatase powder used as raw material
Titanium dioxide nanoparticles were obtained with a broad size distribution from a commercial anatase powder
Summary
Mechanical milling is considered to fall within the so-called “top-down” techniques [1], since it uses defragmentation from the collision between the grinding bodies (or grinding elements) and the dust particles to be grinded This method has been attracting great interest for the study of nanoparticle formation [2]-[5] since it is highly feasible from a technical and economic perspective because of simplicity of the process [6]. This technology has become very significant in recent years because it presents as an important alternative for the world’s current energy requirements. In order to see which contributions the product obtained can provide for this technology, efficiency results of solar cells developed from the post grinding powders are presented
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