Design and Fabrication of High Performance Photoanode of Fe2(MoO4)3/RGO Hybrid Composites For Triiodide Reduction in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Abstract

Discovery of electrode materials with superior light harvesting performance with high conductivity nature have become more and more urgent for the field of photovoltaics and portable electronic devices. Here in, synthesis of Fe2(MoO4)3/reduced graphene oxide (RGO) nanocomposite was prepared by simple hydrothermal approach and used as high efficient dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The decoration of RGO into the Fe2(MoO4)3 was proved by various physic-chemical studies such as XRD, SEM, TEM, Raman, UV, PL and BET analysis. Due to the synergic effect between the Fe2(MoO4)3 and RGO the light absorption property is significantly improved as well the high surface area (112.5 m2/g) and pore size (38.7 nm) was achieved than compared with bare Fe2(MoO4)3 (88.5 m2/g and 17.8 nm). The Fe2(MoO4)3/RGO hybrid photoanode establish to display an outstanding catalytic activity toward the reduction of triiodide to iodide in a dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) and can provide a solar cell efficiency of 9.65%, which is superior to a Pt-based DSSC (6.17%). The better electro-catalytic ability of Fe2(MoO4)3/RGO electrode is obtained by a synergistic effect that resulted in the high specific surface area and intrinsic reactivity of the photocathode materials.