Nanostructure control of graphene-composited TiO2 by a one-step solvothermal approach for high performance dye-sensitized solar cells

Abstract

We present a one-step solvothermal approach to prepare uniform graphene-TiO(2) nanocomposites with delicately controlled TiO(2) nanostructures, including ultra-small 2 nm nanoparticles, 12 nm nanoparticles and nanorods. Using three composites as photoanode materials, the effect of nanostructure of graphene-composited TiO(2) on the performance of dye-sensitized solar cells was investigated, and results showed that the ultra-small 2 nm TiO(2)-graphene composite based photoanode exhibited the highest power conversion efficiency of 7.25%.

Tuning TiO2nanoparticle morphology in graphene–TiO2hybrids by graphene surface modification

“…Other work on the one-pot synthesis of GNP-TiO 2 hybrids does not show evidence of TiO 2 shape control, [39][40][41][42][43][44] and, when achieved, GNP does not play any significant role in shape control. [45][46][47] In this work, we bind both amino and carboxylate functions on GNP, and we show that these groups can change the morphology of …”

Graphene based metal and metal oxide nanocomposites: synthesis, properties and their applications

“…In another study, an enhanced power conversion efficiency of 7.25% was obtained in DSSC by delicately controlling the morphology of the TiO 2 NPs on the graphene sheets. 378 For this purpose, various HRG/TiO 2 nanocomposites have been synthesized with different nanostructures including ultrasmall 2 nm NPs, 12 nm NPs and nanorods. Among them, the photoanode based on the nanocomposites of ultra-small 2 nm TiO 2 NPs exhibited the highest power conversion efficiency.…”

Carbonaceous Dye‐Sensitized Solar Cell Photoelectrodes

“…These authors showed that this significant improvement in the DSSC performance was due to the increased adsorption of dye molecules in the graphene/TiO 2 film as compared to the TiO 2 ‐only film. Several other studies have showed that the presence of graphene in the nanocrystalline films improves the dye loading 124, 125, 130. The reason for this improvement in the dye loading was explained by these authors as follows: the high surface area to volume ratio of graphene provides more anchoring sites for TiO 2 which enable the loading of a high amount of dye molecules.…”

“…Since then, graphene has become known the world‐over as an advanced material and is quickly moving from the research laboratories to the industrial applications 118. The exceptional properties of this material have pioneered recent explorations to apply graphene structures in the photoelectrode of DSSCs 119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131. It can be clearly seen from Table 2 that the improved efficiencies of DSSCs with graphene materials incorporated TiO 2 photoelectrode films vary from 1.68% to 8.13%.…”

“…Data points are adopted from refs. 85, 87, 91, 94, 100, 101, 103, 104, 107, 108, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127.…”