Brookite TiO2 nanoparticle films for dye-sensitized solar cells.

Brookite TiO(2) nanoparticles have been synthesized at low temperature by a soft solution growth method and have been used as building blocks to prepare pure brookite nanoparticle porous films. The film brookite structure was confirmed by XRD and Raman spectroscopy. By spectrophotometry, it was shown that the films had a direct band gap of 3.4 eV. After sensitization by the N719 dye, efficient cells have been produced. A best overall conversion efficiency of 5.97%, without a scattering layer, was found for the larger TiO(2) starting nanoparticles. The cell open-circuit voltage was improved compared with that of anatase cells and a lower electron diffusion coefficient was found in the photoanodes made of smaller brookite particles. Lanthanum-doped brookite nanoparticle films were also studied. They showed a marked decreased in the amount of dye loading, and hence, the solar cells had a reduced current density that was not compensated for by the increased open-circuit voltage of the cells.