Novel sol-gel method of synthesis of pure and aluminum doped TiO2 nanoparticles

Abstract

Pure and doped titanium dioxide (TiO₂) nano particles have been prepared using acid tailored novel sol-gel method based on the use of new chemicals using different doping concentration of metal aluminum (Al) at annealing temperature of 450 °C. Powder XRD and UV-Vis have been used to investigate the effect of Al doping in pure TiO₂. Particle size analysis using X-ray line broadening shows marginally increasing trend with increasing Al impurity. Results show that all samples prepared by this method having particle size in the range of 11 nm to 23.9 nm. UV-Vis analysis indicates decrease in energy band gap due to Al doping which means there is a shift in the solar spectrum towards the lower wavelength region in case of doped TiO₂ and hence absorption is increased as compared to pure TiO₂. Metal doping of Al enhances electrical conductivity due to plasmonic effect and improves optical transparency of TiO₂ semiconductor at a low cost. The value of band gap for pure TiO₂ is 3.1 eV and decreases to 2.8 eV for 0.03 mole % of Al in Pure TiO₂. Versatile, cheap and easy novel method has been reported for preparation of pure and doped TiO₂ nano particles, which can be used for making photo anode for solar cells.