Enhanced photovoltaic performance using reduced graphene oxide assisted by triple-tail surfactant as an efficient and low-cost counter electrode for dye-sensitized solar cells

• Main Authors: A.B., Suriania, M.D., Nurhafizaha, A., Mohamed, M.H., Mamat, M.F., Malek, M.K., Ahmad, A., Pandikumar, N.M., Huang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Science Ltd 2017
• Subjects: TK Electrical engineering. Electronics Nuclear engineering; TK7800-8360 Electronics
• Online Access: http://eprints.uthm.edu.my/3547/1/AJ%202017%20%2879%29%20Enhanced%20photovoltaic%20performance%20using%20reduced%20graphene.pdf; http://eprints.uthm.edu.my/3547/; http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijleo.2017.04.025
• Institution: Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia

In this work, 4-bis(neopentyloxy)-3-(neopentyloxycarbonyl)-1,4-dioxobutane-2-silphonate (TC14) surfactant assisted reduced graphene oxide (rGO) was used as a counter electrode (CE) in dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC). Field emission scanning electron microscopy and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy observations revealed that the TC14-rGO film was well dispersed on fluorine-doped tin oxide surface. The TC14-rGO modified CE based DSSC showed a power conversion efficiency of 0.828%, a short current density (JSC) of 2.72 mA cm−2, an open circuit voltage (VOC) of 0.65 V, and a fill factor (FF) of 41.9 which were higher than those CE fabricated from commercially available SDS surfactant assisted rGO. Results revealed that TC14-rGO is a potential CE material to construct efficient DSSC for future solar cell applications.