Influence of Cr Doping on Structural, Optical, and Photovoltaic Properties of BiFeO3 Synthesized by Sol-Gel Method

Abstract

In this work, pure BiFeO3 and samples doped with different concentrations of chromium were synthesized to improve the optical properties and efficiency of solar cells based on BiFeO3. The sol-gel method was used for synthesis due to its ability to produce nanostructured materials with high purity and good homogeneity, as well as the possibility of controlling the size and shape of the resulting particles. The samples were characterized by different analytical techniques. Thermal analysis results indicate that the dopant increases the weight loss of the sample from 61 to 81%, with an increase in the exothermal in the nucleation and crystallization temperature range. The X-ray diffraction patterns and UV-visible spectra show a dependence of the crystallite size and bandgap with respect to the amount of Cr dopant, decreasing from 168 to 73 nm and from 2.14 to 1.92 eV, respectively. Scanning electron microscopy images display a decreasing grain size as a result of an increasing amount of dopant. The I-V analysis results show a 1% Cr-doped BiFeO3 photovoltaic device exhibits enhanced photovoltaic performance with higher photocurrent and 4.17 times greater energy conversion efficiency compared with a pure BiFeO3 photovoltaic device. For their behavior, Cr-doped BiFeO3-based photoelectrodes are very promising materials for photovoltaic devices.

Enhancing Photovoltaic Performance with BaTiO3/MWCNTs Composite Photoelectrodes in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

“…The fabrication of a pure BaTiO 3 working electrode and a BaTiO 3 /MWCNT composite working electrode was performed according to the modified process described by Tiburcio et al [18]. Initially, 1 cm 2 ITO glasses were cleaned by being repeatedly washed with ultrapure water and 2-propanol using an ultrasonic bath, and then with acetone.…”

“…This trend may be related to the corresponding decrease and increase in the crystallite size, as observed in the X-ray diffraction results. These changes in the crystallite size can alter the band structure of the material, leading to a corresponding change in the optical bandgap energy [18,67,68].…”

“…However, challenges remain in improving their electron dynamics, operational lifetimes, and fabrication scalability. Hence, alternative materials such as tin oxide [15], iron oxide [16], copper oxide [17], and bismuth ferrite [18] have been explored.…”

Impact of Cr Doping on the Structural, Optical, and Magnetic Properties of Sol–Gel-Synthesized Bi0.80Ba0.10Pr0.10FeO3 Nanopowders

“…Recently, many researchers have investigated the impact of Cr ions on the magnetic properties of the BFO material. They found improved magnetic properties; however, the improvement is insignificant in the single Cr doping. − So, these studies motivated us to investigate the impact of BFO-based materials. The present work with Cr doping focuses on improving the magnetic properties of BFO since Cr is a magnetic element that improves the magnetic properties to be used in applications in spintronics, magnetic storage, or sensors, given this requirement, we have fixed the codoping at the Bi site at 10 at.…”