Eur. Phys. J. Spec. Top. (2022) 231: 2919-2926
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjs/s11734-022-00546-1

Regular Article

Designing of –rGO nanocomposite-based photoanode to enhance the performance of dye-sensitized solar cells

¹ Jiangsu Shipping College, 226010, Nantong, China
² Universiti Selangor, 45600, Selangor, Malaysia
³ Department of Physics, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, 38000, Faisalabad, Pakistan
⁴ Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Riphah International University I-14, 44000, Islamabad, Pakistan
⁵ Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Sialkot, Sialkot, Pakistan
⁶ Department of Mechanical Engineering, COMSATS University Islamabad, Sahiwal Campus, Islamabad, Pakistan
⁷ Electronic Materials Research Laboratory, International Center for Dielectric Research, Key Laboratory of the Ministry of Education, School of Electronic and Information Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, 710049, Xi’an, Shaanxi, People’s Republic of China
⁸ Department of Mathematics, COMSATS University, 57000, Islamabad, Sahiwal, Pakistan
⁹ LSEC and ICMSEC, Academy of Mathematics and Systems Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100190, Beijing, People’s Republic of China
¹⁰ School of Mathematical Science, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100190, Beijing, People’s Republic of China
¹¹ Mechanical Engineering Department, College of Engineering, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, Wadi Assawaser, Saudi Arabia
¹² Production Engineering and Mechanical Design Department, Faculty of Engineering, Mansoura University, Mansoura, Egypt
¹³ Department of Food Nutrition Science, College of Science, Taif University, P. O. Box 11099, 21944, Taif, Saudi Arabia
¹⁴ Egyptian Petroleum Research Institute, Nasr City, Cairo, Egypt

^b m.asif.javed@uaf.edu.pk
^c mikhan@math.qau.edu.pk

Received: 18 March 2021
Accepted: 16 March 2022
Published online: 6 April 2022

Abstract

The development of –rGO nanocomposite-based photoanode is an efficient way to enhance the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). –rGO nanocomposite has been synthesized for the modified photoanode of DSSCs. GO has been synthesized by modified Hummer’s method, and rGO was achieved by two more steps. nanoparticles have been synthesized by the sol–gel approach followed by composition with rGO. The –rGO nanocomposites were analyzed by Field-Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Energy-Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDX), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), UV–Vis Spectroscopy, and IV measurements. The as synthesized –rGO nanocomposite-based photoanode showed a higher PCE than pure nanoparticles-based photoanode. Moreover, –rGO nanocomposite-based photoanode presented enhanced efficiency of 4.09% in DSSCs because rGO has better charge collection ability, which is more convenient to reduce the electron recombination rate.