Novel silver-doped NiTiO3: auto-combustion synthesis, characterization and photovoltaic measurements

Novel silver-doped nickel titanate nanoparticles (Ag-NiTiO3) were successfully prepared via a sol-gel method in the presence of stearyl alcohol as the capping agent and solvent. The formation of pure crystallized nickel titanate and silver-doped nickel titanate was occurred when the precursor was heat-treated at 700 °C in air for 150 and 60 min, respectively. The structural, morphological, and optical properties of obtained products were characterized by techniques such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transforminfrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, Energy dispersive X-ray microanalysis (EDX), ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The magnetic property of the prepared Ag-NiTiO3 nanoparticles was also investigated with vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). To fabricate a FTO/TiO2/Ag-NiTiO3/Pt-FTO solar cell, Ag-NiTiO3 film was directly deposited on top of the TiO2 prepared by electrophoresis deposition method. Furthermore, solar cell result indicates that an inexpensive solar cell could be developed by the synthesized Ag-NiTiO3 nanoparticles.