PREPARATION OF RGO/TIO2 COMPOSITE FILMS AS COUNTER ELECTRODE IN DYE-SENSITIZED SOLAR CELL (DS

• Main Author: Marcelina, Vika
• Format: Theses
• Language: Indonesia
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/58117
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

One of important components in DSSC solar cells is the counter electrode. Platinum is a material that commonly used in DSSC because itss conductivity and excellent catalytic properties. However, due to its high price it is necessary to find an alternative material for replacing platinum especially for large-scale applications in the future. The aim of this study is to prepare composite layers of RGO/TiO2 as a counter electrode material of the DSSC and measure its characteristics. Preparation of the counter electrode layers begin with dispersing RGO and TiO2 in tert-butanol medium in a ratio of 4:5 and 2:5. Then the composite solutions were deposited on the FTO substrates by spin coating and drop casting methods. After the RGO/TiO2 composite layers were formed, it was following by heating in the furnace with nitrogen gas flow at 500????C for 30 minutes. The morphology of the RGO/TiO2 composite films studied through Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) showed that the RGO/TiO2 composite films had rough and porous surface with the edges of the RGO sheet pointing vertically. Furthermore, characteristics of the RGO in RGO/TiO2 were observed through Raman spectroscopy, the results showed that RGO had a lower D band intensity than the G band which indicated that the films were dominated by carbon with graphitic bonds rather than defect structure. The structure of the prepared DSSC consists of FTO/BL/mesoporous TiO2/ Dye/electrolyte/RGO/TiO2/FTO. The DSSCs were further characterized by currentvoltage (I–V) measurement to study its photovoltaic characteristics and Intensity Modulated Photovoltage Spectroscopy (IMVS) to study the possible charge recombination. From the measurement results, it was obtained that the best characteristic of the DSSC are Jsc = 7,0 mA/cm2, Voc = 0,65 V, FF = 50,7% and ????= 2,3%, that similar with DSSC using Pt as counter electrode. This results show that the RGO/TiO2 composite can be a candidate to replace Pt as the counter electrode. This related with characteristics of RGO/TiO2 composite that hass large surface area and micro-pores so having good catalytic properties for reducing ???????? ????ions in electrolytes.