Enhancement of titanium dioxide (TiO2) dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) performance with incorporation of reduced graphene oxide (rGO)
The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the structural, optical and electrical properties of titanium dioxide (TiO2) dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) with the incorporation of reduced graphene oxide (rGO). In this experiment, rGO from electrochemical exfoliation, was deposited onto few fluori...
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Format: | Thesis |
Language: | English English English |
Published: |
2022
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Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://eprints.uthm.edu.my/8405/1/24p%20AZMAN%20TALIB.pdf http://eprints.uthm.edu.my/8405/2/AZMAN%20TALIB%20COPYRIGHT%20DECLARATION.pdf http://eprints.uthm.edu.my/8405/3/AZMAN%20TALIB%20WATERMARK.pdf |
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Summary: | The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the structural, optical and electrical properties of titanium dioxide (TiO2) dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) with the incorporation of reduced graphene oxide (rGO). In this experiment, rGO from electrochemical exfoliation, was deposited onto few fluorine-doped tin-oxide (FTO) substrat through spray pyrolysis deposition (SPD) method with different rGO volumes. Then, all the fabricated FTOs went through rutile-phase TiO2 (r-TiO2) with hydrothermal synthesis. From DSSCs analysis, 0.50 mL of rGO volume exhibited the best photovoltaic (PV) performance with the efficiency of 2.61% and open-circuit voltage of 0.70 V. The successful synthesis of rGO, incorporated with TiO2 was confirmed using Raman spectroscopy. The analysis of the samples was done using X-ray diffraction, field emission scanning electron microscopy, ultraviolet-visible spectrophotometry, and incident photon-to-carrier conversion efficiency spectra. Then, another rGO which was produced through Hummers method, was incorporated into anatase-phase TiO2 (a-TiO2) as nanocomposite (NC) mixture. After that, through SPD method, the NC mixture was deposited onto few FTOs. The a-TiO2 was produced by adding TKC-302 into TiO2 P25 powder. The NC mixture samples significantly contributed towards the improvement of efficiency, when compared with samples without rGO. When 2 mL of rGO was added into a-TiO2, PV performance achieved the highest efficiency of 3.15% and current density of 5.98 mA/cm2. Finally, the combination of rGO and a-TiO2 NC mixture, was overlayered onto r-TiO2. The 2 mL of rGO/a-TiO2 NC mixture which was deposited through SPD onto r-TiO2, exhibited the best PV performance with the highest efficiency of 5.72% and the current density of 10.37 mA/cm2. The rGO acted as an important material, to maximise the photogenerated electrons of photo-induced charge carriers. The photogenerated electrons from dyes transferred through r-TiO2, effectively traveled out to the circuit load, which underwent recombination with holes in the solar cells with enhancement of rGO functions. |
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