Synthesis of <scp> TiO ₂ </scp> nanostructures by green approach as photoanodes for dye‐sensitized solar cells

Abstract

Clean and green energy being worlds priority today, here in this work TiO2 nanostructures were prepared via green route using the fruit extracts derived from pineapple, orange, and grapes as reducing agents respectively. The anatase phase of the prepared TiO2 nanostructures was confirmed through the X-ray diffraction pattern and the Raman analysis, respectively. Field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) images of the samples was found to exhibit nanorods like morphology. Further, the functional groups and the optical properties of the synthesized TiO2 and Murraya koenigii fruit dye were confirmed using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and UV-Vis spectroscopy, respectively. From the Tauc plot, the indirect bandgap values of the TiO2 nanostructures were calculated. Using the prepared TiO2 nanostructures as photoanodes dye-sensitized solar cells were fabricated and its performance was studied. In this work, two different dyes such as the natural extract derived from the fruit skin of Murraya koenigii and the commercial N719 dye were used as sensitizers.