Reduced Graphene Oxide/Polyaniline Nanocomposite as Efficient Counter Electrode for Dye Sensitized Solar Cells

Abstract

Reduced graphene oxide (rGO) was synthesized using sonication-assisted oxidation of graphite followed by reduction with ascorbic acid as environmentally friendly reductor. The polyaniline was prepared via chemical polimerization of aniline in 0°C. The rGO and polyaniline were blend in three mass compotitions of 1:3, 1:1, and 4:1 to produced rGO/polyaniline nanocomposites. The rGO/polyaniline nanocomposites were characterized using Raman spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and LCR meter. The rGO sheets as the support materials could provide more active sites for the nucleation of polyaniline, where polyaniline acts as conducting support. The rGO/polyaniline nanocomposites was deposited on synthetic graphite substrate laminated the glass substrate and applied as the counter electrode for efficient dye sensitized solar cells (DSSC). The rGO/polyaniline nanocomposite is an efficient counter electrode because of Pt/TCO free. The usage of rGO/polyaniline nanocomposites film as counter electrode in DSSC was demonstrated. The best performance was obtained for rGO/Polyaniline ratio of 4:1. Here, the optimum short circuit current density (Jsc), the open circuit current (Voc), the fill factor (FF), and the overall conversion efficiency under AM 1.5, 100 mW cm−2 illumination are 7.853 mA/cm2, 0.64 Volt, 47.2% and 2.64%, respectively.