The Influence of the Precursor's Nature and Drying Conditions on the Structure, Morphology, and Thermal Properties of TiO Aerogels.

A cost-effective solution for the synthesis of high-porosity TiO aerogels, which can be used as a mesoporous perovskite network charge-carrier material during the manufacture of solar cells, is described. The effects of the synthesis parameters (precursor (titanium (IV) isopropoxide (TIP) and tetrabutyl orthotitanate (TBOT)), additional solvent exchange (n-hexane (nH), cyclohexane (CH), and diethyl ether (DE)), subcritical drying (800 mbar vacuum, 70 °C, 8 h), aging, and calcination on the aerogel's structure have been investigated. Methods of XRD, FT-IR, BET, Raman, STA, SEM, UV-vis, and thermal conductivity measurements were applied to find out the relation between the synthesis conditions and the properties of the synthesized aerogels.

Effect of Precursor Nature and Sol-Gel Synthesis Conditions on TiO Aerogel's Structure.

The aim of this investigation was to synthesize high porosity TiO aerogel by applying sol-gel and subcritical drying methods and to identify the influence of reagent's nature and synthesis conditions on their structural and optical properties. Methods of XRD, FT-IR, BET, STA, SEM, and UV-vis were applied to investigate and compare the properties of synthesized TiO aerogels and to determine the most effective synthesis route. The structural parameters of the synthesized materials can be varied by changing the precursor type (titanium (IV), isopropoxide (TIP), or tetrabutylorthotitanate (TBOT)) and the nature of the solvent used for additional exchange (-hexane (nH), cyclohexane (CH), or diethyl ether (DE)).