Preparation and Photoelectric Properties of Spinel MCr<sub>2</sub>O<sub>4</sub> (M = Cu, Ni) Nanopowders

Abstract

Spinel MCr2O4(M = Cu, Ni) nanopowders were synthesized by co-precipitation technique from alcohol-aqueous system and the performance of MCr2O4/TiO2 composite film electrodes was studied. The synthesized MCr2O4 nanopowders were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectrum (UV-vis). The MCr2O4 nanopowders were doped into nanocrystalline semiconductor oxide film electrode of DSSCs and the influence of doping content was investigated. Compared with the pure TiO2 film electrode, the absorbance of different MCr2O4/TiO2 composite film electrode increased significantly. Furthermore, the light respondence of CuCr2O4/TiO2 composite electrode was better than NiCr2O4/TiO2 composite electrode. When the content of CuCr2O4 2%, the photoelectric conversion efficiency increased by 54%, and doping 1% NiCr2O4 nanopowders, the photoelectric conversion efficiency was improved 30%.