Sol-gel based TiO2 thin film deposition on frustules towards facile and scalable manufacturing

[摘要] Diatom frustules have drawn a lot of attention from engineering researchers in the past decades. As a type of biomaterial, diatom frustules have been applied in a variety of areas such as biosensors and solar cells due to their excellent material and optical properties. Titanium dioxide (TiO2), on the other hand, is also semiconductor material and photocatalyst, micro and nanoparticles of which can be found in applications such as dye sensitised solar cells (DSSC). It has been demonstrated that by using diatom frustule-TiO2composite particles in DSSCs, the performance of the solar cells could be increased. In this paper, we introduce a sol- gel based method to deposit TiO2layers on the surface of diatom frustules. TiO2nanoparticles were deposited on the surface of the frustules. After a subsequent annealing process, TiO2crystal grains were formed. The method in this paper has the potential for scalable manufacturing of frustule-TiO2composite materials for future solar cell applications.

[发布机构] Mechanical Engineering, Boston University, Boston; MA; 02215, United States^1;Boston University Medical Center, Boston; MA; 02118, United States^2

[效力级别] 能源学

[关键词] Annealing process;Composite particles;Crystal grains;Micro and nano-particle;Solar-cell applications;TiO2 nano-particles;TiO2 thin films;Titanium dioxides (TiO2)