Dye sensitized solar cell (DSC) based on reduced graphene oxide (rGO)-TiO2 nanocomposite photoelectrode and polyaniline (PANI) counter electrode

2020 ◽  
Vol 71 (7) ◽  
pp. 789-801
Author(s):  
T.O. Ahmed ◽  
O.O. Ogunleye ◽  
A.Y. Abdulrahaman ◽  
N. Alu

We report the successful application of reduced graphene oxide–titania (rGO–TiO2) nanocomposite as an efficient photoelectrode and an inexpensive polyaniline (PANI) synthesized by in-situ polymerization on graphite foam as a platinum substitute for tri-iodide reduction for dye‐sensitized solar cell (DSC). The bulk carrier concentration and conductivity of the PANI was measured to be 3.02x1017cm-3 and 4.89x10-1 W-1cm-1 respectively. Subsequently, three DSCs were assembled with rGO–TiO2 nanocomposite photoelectrode and PANI as counter electrode for one and the other two assembled using unmodified TiO2 photoelectrode with PANI and platinum as counter electrodes, respectively. The rGO loading allows more dye to be adsorbed due its large surface area thus improving the light harvesting efficiency (LHE). This improvement in LHE increases the short circuit current density (JSC). The JSC increase is more substantial compared to the reduction in VOC; thus, the increase in the efficiency of the cell with rGO-TiO2 nanocomposite electrode. The short circuit current density for the rGO-TiO2 DSC with PANI counter electrode is 0.45mAcm-2 while that for the unmodified TiO2 DSCs with PANI counter electrode and platinum counter electrode are 0.11mAcm-2 and 0.10 mAcm-2 respectively. This corresponds to 76% increase in the current density and it increases collection rate at the photoelectrode leading to enhanced power conversion efficiency of 0.13% compared with 0.04% and 0.02% for the DSCs assembled with unmodified TiO2 under full sunlight illumination (100 mW/cm2, AM 1.5G) as a result of the better charge collection efficiency of rGO, which reduces the back electron transfer process. This represent 69% enhancement of energy conversion efficiency in the DSC consisting of rGO modified TiO2

2020 ◽  
Vol 71 (7) ◽  
pp. 789-801
Author(s):  
T.O. Ahmed ◽  
O.O. Ogunleye ◽  
A.Y. Abdulrahaman ◽  
N. Alu

We report the successful application of reduced graphene oxide–titania (rGO–TiO2) nanocomposite as an efficient photoelectrode and an inexpensive polyaniline (PANI) synthesized by in-situ polymerization on graphite foam as a platinum substitute for tri-iodide reduction for dye‐sensitized solar cell (DSC). The bulk carrier concentration and conductivity of the PANI was measured to be 3.02x1017cm-3 and 4.89x10-1 W-1cm-1 respectively. Subsequently, three DSCs were assembled with rGO–TiO2 nanocomposite photoelectrode and PANI as counter electrode for one and the other two assembled using unmodified TiO2 photoelectrode with PANI and platinum as counter electrodes, respectively. The rGO loading allows more dye to be adsorbed due its large surface area thus improving the light harvesting efficiency (LHE). This improvement in LHE increases the short circuit current density (JSC). The JSC increase is more substantial compared to the reduction in VOC; thus, the increase in the efficiency of the cell with rGO-TiO2 nanocomposite electrode. The short circuit current density for the rGO-TiO2 DSC with PANI counter electrode is 0.45mAcm-2 while that for the unmodified TiO2 DSCs with PANI counter electrode and platinum counter electrode are 0.11mAcm-2 and 0.10 mAcm-2 respectively. This corresponds to 76% increase in the current density and it increases collection rate at the photoelectrode leading to enhanced power conversion efficiency of 0.13% compared with 0.04% and 0.02% for the DSCs assembled with unmodified TiO2 under full sunlight illumination (100 mW/cm2, AM 1.5G) as a result of the better charge collection efficiency of rGO, which reduces the back electron transfer process. This represent 69% enhancement of energy conversion efficiency in the DSC consisting of rGO modified TiO2


2018 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 816-823 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Khalid Hossain ◽  
M.F. Pervez ◽  
S. Tayyaba ◽  
M. Jalal Uddin ◽  
A.A. Mortuza ◽  
...  

Abstract Efficiency of dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) depends on several interrelated factors such as type and concentration of dye, type and thickness of photoelectrode and counter electrode. Optimized combination of these factors leads to a more efficient cell. This paper presents the effect of these parameters on cell efficiency. TiO2 nanoporous thin films of different thicknesses (5 μm to 25 μm) were fabricated on indium doped tin oxide (ITO) coated glass by doctor blading method and characterized by inverted microscope, stylus surface profiler and scanning electron microscope (SEM). Natural organic dye of different concentrations, extracted from turmeric, was prepared with ethanol solvent. Different combinations of dye concentrations and film thicknesses along with different types of carbon catalyst have been investigated by I-V characterization. The result shows that the cell made of a counter electrode catalyst material prepared by candle flame carbon combined with about 15 μm thick photoelectrode and 100 mg/mL dye in ethanol solvent, achieves the highest efficiency of 0.45 %, with open circuit voltage of 566 mV and short circuit current density of 1.02 mA/cm2.


2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 113-117 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Y.A. Rahman ◽  
A. S. Sulaiman ◽  
A. A. Umar

This work is concerned with the use of gold doped reduced graphene oxide (rGO) films as counter electrode in a dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC). The effect of gold content on the photovoltaic parameters of the device has been studied. The samples are crystalline, indicated by the presence of rGO phase. It was found that the short-circuit current density (JSC) decreases with the increase in gold content. The DSSC utilizing the sample prepared using 2.0 wt.% gold demonstrated the highest JSC, Voc and η of 0.989 mA cm-2, 0.692 V and 0.175%, respectively. The highest efficiency (η) of the device is due to the lowest leak current and charge transfer resistance (Rct).


2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Klitsada Moolsarn ◽  
Apishok Tangtrakarn ◽  
Adulphan Pimsawat ◽  
Kornrawit Duangsa ◽  
Charusporn Mongkolkachit ◽  
...  

Carbon derived from hair is interesting because it has good electrocatalytic activity due to the existence of innate heteroatom dopants especially nitrogen and sulfur. In this study, a carbon catalyst containing high nitrogen contents (9.47 at.%) was fabricated without using any harsh chemicals. Moreover, the carbonization temperature was only 700°C. Carbonized hair/PEDOT:PSS composites (CxP) with varied carbon contents from x = 0.2 to 0.8 g were tested as a counter electrode (CE) for a dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC). This type of DSSC CE has scarcely been investigated. A DSSC with a C0.6P CE provides the best efficiency (6.54 ± 0.11%) among all composite CEs because it has a high fill factor (FF) and a high short-circuit current density (Jsc). The efficiency of DSSC with C0.6P CE is lower than Pt’s (7.29 ± 0.01%) since the Pt-based DSSC has higher FF and Jsc values. However, C0.6P is still promising as a DSSC CE since it is more cost-effective than Pt.


2018 ◽  
pp. 1800298 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vijayakumar Paranthaman ◽  
Kannadhasan Sundaramoorthy ◽  
Balaji Chandra ◽  
Senthil Pandian Muthu ◽  
Pandikumar Alagarsamy ◽  
...  

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