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

Zobair El Afia (Laboratory of Materials, Electrochemistry, and Environment, Faculty of Sciences, University Ibn Tofail, 14000 Kenitra, Morocco)
Mohamed Youssef Messous (Material Sciences Unit USM/DERS, National Center for Energy, Sciences and Nuclear Techniques-CNESTEN, B.P 1382 R.P 10001 Rabat, Morocco)
Mohamed Cherkaoui (Laboratory of Materials, Electrochemistry, and Environment, Faculty of Sciences, University Ibn Tofail, 14000 Kenitra, Morocco)
Mounia Tahri (National Center for Energy, Sciences and Nuclear Techniques-CNESTEN-B.P 1382 R.P 10001 Rabat, Morocco)

Indonesian Journal of Chemistry
Vol 20, No 1 (2020)

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.