The Deposition of Titanium Dioxide Nanostructures Layer Using One-step Solution Process and Spin-coating Technique

Abstract

Background: Titanium dioxide (TiO2) is an oxide-based material that has been recently discovered by many researchers owing to its properties such as a good absorber with excellent optical properties and the best stability compared to lead, Pb, which is not stable in the ambient air and is a toxic material. TiO2 is a non-toxic material and is not hazardous to the environment. TiO2 became a favored choice in selecting as a layer because of faster electron extraction and suitable bandgap energy. Objective: In this study, we deposited and optimized TiO2 at different TiO2 precursor molar concentrations varying between 0.005 - 0.05M. Methods: A one-step solution process and a low-temperature processing spin-coating technique were used. Results: Using the field emission scanning electron microscope, it was found that the surface morphology of the TiO2 Nanostructures Layer (NsL) was evenly distributed, presenting a homogeneous surface. An atomic force microscope showed that the TiO2 NsL appeared as a uniform, dense and compact surface close to each other. It was revealed that the surface roughness value (RMS) was 47.72nm, and the thickness of TiO2 NsL (Pmax) was 26.82nm. Besides, the surface coverage was good and uniform, while the percentage of surface roughness was found to be 11.8% using a surface profiler. The Ultra-violet visible spectroscopy showed the bandgap energy of 3.11 eV. Conclusion: The optimum result suggests that TiO2 NsL, as an electron transport layer (ETL), could be used for fabrication in the architecture engineering structure of Bi- perovskite based solar cell devices in the future.