Hydrotalcites of zinc and titanium as precursors of finely dispersed mixed oxide semiconductors for dye-sensitized solar cells

Hydrotalcites are layered materials whose sheets are constituted by octahedra occupied by two different metals (one divalent and the other tri- or tetravalent) and having oxide or hydroxide at the corners. The excess of positive charge of the sheets is compensated by anions located at the interlamellar space. In the present work we have synthesized two hydrotalcites containing zinc and titanium (Zn/Ti atomic ratio in the gel synthesis 6.25) that differ on the absence or presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate in the interlamellar spaces. Calcination of these hydrotalcites leads to a film of intimately dispersed mixed oxide semiconductor that was used as semiconductor for dye sensitised solar cells. Using a ruthenium polypyridyl complex as dye, two photovoltaic cells constructed by films of mixed oxides derived from hydrotalcite calcination were prepared. The highest efficiency parameters were VOC = 0.63 V, JSC = 2.18 mA cm−2, FF = 0.465, η = 0.64%. These efficiency values are not far from those obtained for an analogous photovoltaic cell prepared using P25 titania.