Carbon Doped Nano-Crystalline TiO2 Photo-Active Thin Film for Solid State Photochemical Solar Cells

Carbon doped titanium dioxide (C-TiO2) is considered as a promising photocatalytic material due to its optical absorption extended in the visible region compared to pure TiO2. However, in the field of photovoltaic’s, use of C-doped nano-crystalline titanium dioxide (C-TiO2) electrodes for light absorption has been considered to be unnecessary so far. In this context, we report here on the use of C-TiO2 nano-crystalline electrodes in photochemical solar cells devices (PCSC). Carbon doping has reduced the band gap of TiO2 to 2.41 eV and 2.25 eV with increase in the doping extent for the 9 mM C-TiO2 and 45 mM C-TiO2 respectively. The C-TiO2 electrodes were first used as photo electrodes for solar cells, exhibiting JSC of 1.34651 mA/cm2, VOC 0.683 V, FF 50.23% and η 0.46%. for the 9 mM C-TiO2 and exhibiting JSC of 1.34651 mA/cm2, VOC 0.815 V, FF 54.3% and η 0.59% for the 45 mM C-TiO2. The fabricated solar cell devices have shown an increase in VOC of up to 0.815 V, which is higher than that of 0.7 V for dye sensitized solar cells. The doping of carbon in TiO2 lattice was closely studied by SEM, XRD, RS and UV-Vis spectroscopy.