Synthesis, Structural and Optical Characterization of Titanium Dioxide Doped by (Ce, Yb) Dedicated to Photonic Conversion

Zobair El Afia; Mohamed Youssef Messous; Mohamed Cherkaoui; Mounia Tahri

doi:10.22146/ijc.43947

Synthesis, Structural and Optical Characterization of Titanium Dioxide Doped by (Ce, Yb) Dedicated to Photonic Conversion

https://doi.org/10.22146/ijc.43947

Zobair El Afia^(1*), Mohamed Youssef Messous⁽²⁾, Mohamed Cherkaoui⁽³⁾, Mounia Tahri⁽⁴⁾

(1) Laboratory of Materials, Electrochemistry, and Environment, Faculty of Sciences, University Ibn Tofail, 14000 Kenitra, Morocco
(2) Material Sciences Unit USM/DERS, National Center for Energy, Sciences and Nuclear Techniques-CNESTEN, B.P 1382 R.P 10001 Rabat, Morocco
(3) Laboratory of Materials, Electrochemistry, and Environment, Faculty of Sciences, University Ibn Tofail, 14000 Kenitra, Morocco
(4) National Center for Energy, Sciences and Nuclear Techniques-CNESTEN-B.P 1382 R.P 10001 Rabat, Morocco
(*) Corresponding Author

Abstract

The synthesis of TiO₂ co-doped by (Ce, Yb) rare earth couple has been realized. This couple of rare earth can convert a high-energy photon to two low energy photons to enhance the energy efficiency of silicon solar cells. The undoped, 2% Ce doped- and (2% Ce, 4% Yb) Codoped- Titanium oxide were prepared by the co-precipitation method. The Infrared spectroscopy FTIR-ATR analysis indicates a continuous visible absorption in the 750–400 cm^–1 region, confirming the formation of a titanium-oxygen bond. The X-Ray Diffraction characterization showed the dominance of the rutile crystalline phase with the presence of anatase one and the calculated crystallite size is between 7 to 13 nm. The X-Ray Fluorescence confirms the insertion of the dopants while the Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry ICP-MS showed the ratio 2 between Ce and Yb concentration. The thermogravimetric analysis indicated that Ce/Yb doped titanium was thermally stable. The absorption in the UV-visible (200 and 1000 nm) has been improved proportionally with the dopants.

Keywords

titanium dioxide; co-precipitation; rutile; anatase; photonic conversion

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.22146/ijc.43947