The Effect of Hydrothermal Temperature Variations in the Synthesis of Copper (II) Oxide Nanoparticles in CuO-doped TiO2 Photoanode Fabrication on the Performance of Dye Sensitized Solar Cells (DSSCs) Bramasto Arista Wibisono, Agus Supriyanto, Risa Suryana
Department of Physics, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Universitas Sebelas Maret, Jalan Ir. Sutami 36 A, Kentingan, Surakarta 57126, Indonesia
Emails: bramastowibisono[at]student.uns.ac.id, agusf22[at]staff.uns.ac.id, rsuryana[at]staff.uns.ac.id
Abstract
DSSC is a third-generation solar cell developed as a renewable energy solution. Doping is one method used to overcome the low efficiency of DSSC. This study investigates the effect of hydrothermal temperature variations in the synthesis of Copper(II) Oxide (CuO) as a doping material in the fabrication of CuO-doped TiO2 photoanodes. CuO was synthesized using hydrothermal methods at temperatures of 160 deg C, 180 deg C, and 200 deg C. The resulting CuO nanoparticles had particle sizes of 18 nm, 16 nm, and 12 nm with a monoclinic crystal structure and corresponding crystal sizes of 13.90 nm, 21.33 nm, and 22.29 nm. CuO-doped TiO2 exhibited particle sizes of 27 nm, 20 nm, and 17 nm, with the same crystal size values. FTIR analysis confirmed the presence of Cu-O bonds in CuO and both Cu-O and Ti-O-Ti bonds in CuO-doped TiO2. The UV-Visible spectroscopy results showed maximum absorbance at wavelengths of 280 nm for CuO and 276 nm for CuO-doped TiO2. The measured band-gap of CuO ranged between 1.2 eV and 1.4 eV, while that of CuO-doped TiO2 was between 3.2 eV and 3.9 eV, indicating a band-gap increase. The highest DSSC efficiency using CuO-doped TiO2, measured with an I-V meter, was 0.023 percent at CT180. Based on the results, it can be concluded that the fabrication of DSSC photoanodes from CuO synthesized through hydrothermal variation and incorporated into TiO2 does not significantly enhance DSSC efficiency.
