Investigation of annealing effects on TiO2 nanotubes synthesized by a hydrothermal method for hybrid solar cells

In this work, we have synthesized titanium dioxide nanotubes using the hydrothermal method. The obtained nanotubes were annealed at 400 °C and 600 °C to investigate the effect of annealing on the crystallinity of nanotubes. The synthesized nanotubes were then sensitized by a conducting polymer poly [2-methoxy-5-(2-ethylhexyloxy)-1, 4-phenylenevinylene] (MEHPPV) in order to compose an improved donor: acceptor system for hybrid solar cell application. To elucidate the formation of nanotubes and then their corresponding polymer nanocomposites, morphological studies were done using high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. The absorbance properties of modified TiO2 nanotubes in the polymer matrix of MEHPPV were investigated by UV-Vis absorption spectra. Furthermore, the charge transfer properties were studied by ensuing quenching effect in as-synthesized polymer nanocomposites. The extension of the study involved utilization of these polymer nanocomposites in solar cells that involved a comparative study of the hybrid nanocomposites based solar cells and obtaining their I-V characteristics in order to realize the fabrication of an efficient photovoltaic device.