One-pot synthesis of Nb2O5-doped TiO2 nanoparticles

摘要

A one-pot synthesis of Nb5+-doped TiO2 nanoparticles (NPs) with low cost and high efficiency for dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) is disclosed in the present invention. The Nb5+-doped TiO2 NPs with Nb dopants of 0˜5 mol % are prepared by directly mixing TiO2 slurry with Nb2O5 gel obtained by UV treatment of a mixture of NbCl5 powder, ethanol and water in a certain ratio, following by heat treatment without using hydrothermal method. The as-prepared NPs exhibit well-crystallized pure anatase TiO2 phase with uniform particle distribution. The incorporation of Nb5+ leads to a stronger and broader light absorption in visible light range and a decrease of band gap with increasing Nb dopant content, which enhances the efficiencies of light-harvesting and electron injection and suppresses the charge recombination. The present method provides a simple and cost-effective mass-production route to synthesize n-type metallic ion doped TiO2 nanoparticles as excellent photoanode materials.

主权项

1. A method of preparing a Nb2O5-doped TiO2 nanoparticles-containing solution comprising:
(a) preparing a transparent precursor solution containing niobium chloride (NbCl5); (b) treating the transparent precursor solution with UV; (c) centrifuging the UV-treated transparent precursor solution and removing the residual water to obtain a polymeric gel containing niobium (Nb) as the dopant source; (d) adding a TiO2 slurry into the polymeric gel containing corresponding amount of niobium compound followed by a high-speed mixing and defoaming to obtain different homogenously mixed TiO2—Nb composite slurries in different molar ratio of Nb/(Nb+TiO2) ranging from 0.5˜5.0 mol %; and (e) heat treating the homogenously mixed TiO2—Nb composite slurries for a period of time in order to obtain the Nb2O5-doped TiO2 nanoparticles-containing solution.