Synthesis and characterisation of nano TiO₂ film for enhancing antireflection properties

1

ABSTRACT

A nanostructured TiO₂ thin film was deposited on glass substrate by using sol gel dip-coating method to improve the antireflective property and performance of the solar PV cell. In this way, TiO₂ was prepared by using titanium isopropoxide (TIP) as precursor and nitric acid (HNO₃) as catalyst and the corresponding structural and optical properties were studied. The film thickness was tailored by varying the withdrawal rate. The X-ray diffraction results showed that TiO₂ thin film calcined at 300°C was amorphous, and was transformed into anatase phase at 450°C with crystallite size of 22.6 nm. The microstructure of the film was analysed by Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and the elemental composition was confirmed by Energy Dispersive X-Ray Analysis (EDAX). The surface topography was characterised by Atomic force microscopy (AFM) which reveals that the surface has many spikes which confirms the surface is not smooth. The optical properties such as absorption and reflection were investigated by using UV-VIS spectrometer which indicates that the absorption was increased from 1.2% to 1.5% at the wavelength range from 250 to 314 nm and the reflectance was reduced from 23% to 5.7% after the TiO₂ deposition and the conversion efficiency was increased from 14.22% to 17.54%.

KEYWORDS:

• Sol gel
• dip coating
• solar cell
• efficiency

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Centre for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology for measuring optical properties. We extend our thanks to Annamalai University for XRD and SEM facility and Vellore Institute Vellore for AFM facility.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.