Synthesis of titanium dioxide nanorods combining with titanium dioxide nanoparticles/reduced graphene oxide nanocomposite for fabrication of photoanodes in dye–sensitized solar cells

ABSTRACT

Titanium dioxide nanoparticles/reduced graphene oxide nanocomposite (TG) was synthesised by ex situ method. The obtained nanocomposite was screen–printed onto surface modified fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) plates with titanium dioxide nanorods (TNRs) to prepare dye–sensitised solar cells (DSSCs). The electrochemical properties of as-prepared photoanodes were analysed via current density–voltage curves and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. Characterisation of TG was measured by modern analytical methods. Results indicated that the DSSCs reached an efficiency of 6.76% with 1 wt.% content of graphene oxide (GO) precursor, higher than that of commercial titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TNPs) photoanodes. Furthermore, transmission electron microscopy images demonstrated that TNPs with a diameter of 20–25 nm were well distributed on reduced graphene oxide (rGO) sheets. TNRs exhibited lengths in the range of 2.7 to 3.0 µm and an average diameter of 0.7 µm. The TNRs combining TG demonstrated potential in improving DSSCs efficiency.

Graphical abstract

KEYWORDS:

• Titanium dioxide nanorods
• reduced graphene oxide
• nanocomposite
• photoanode
• dye-sensitised solar cell

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

We acknowledge the support of time and facilities from Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology (HCMUT), VNU-HCM for this study.