The production and characterization of Tio2 photo anode via sol-gel method

Abstract

The research project conducted was to produce and characterize the TiO2 photo-anode via sol-gel method which was carried out by the addition of several chemicals ranging from the precursor solution, the chelating agent, solvent and the pore templating agent. The chemicals involved in the production of Sol for the dip coating process were the Titanium (IV) Isopropoxide, ethanol, acetic, acid and Triton X-100. In this research, dip coating technique was applied to coat a thin layer of TiO2 onto a conductive substrate that can be used in the photoelectrochemical cell (PEC) for hydrogen sequestration The substrates selected were the fluorine doped tin oxide (FTO) glass which allows the current to flow through it. The sol-gel dip coating methods are carried out in different temperature, different concentration and different number of layers. The temperatures were ranged from 75 °C, 45 °C, 30 °C and room temperature. The layers coated were from 1 layer, 3 layers, and 5 layers. The annealing temperatures of the photo-anodes were 400 °C. The substrates were continuously heated in the furnace for 10 minutes for each of the layers coated onto the FTO substrate. The analysis conducted by using UV-VIS analysis to test for the wavelength and the three point probe tests for the Current Voltage Analysis. From the analysis, the best photo-anode produced were from the 20% ethanol concentration, 5 layers of TiO2 coating and the sol were being produced at room temperature of 23-24 °C.