An efficient quasi-solid state dye sensitized solar cells based on graphene oxide/gelatin gel electrolyte with NiO supported TiO2 photoanode

Abstract

Abstract The present work demonstrates a simple one pot synthesis method for the synthesis of NiO@TiO 2 nanocomposites as a working electrode in Dye Sensitized Solar Cells (DSSCs) i.e. the applicability of n-type TiO 2 and p-type NiO. These hybrid nanostructures which were, beneficial because of its increasing dye adsorption with suppressing electron-hole recombination and were characterized by using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX) and UV–vis spectroscopy. The morphology and size of the NiO@TiO 2 hybrid nanoparticles were analyzed by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and transmission electron microscope (TEM) analysis. Graphene Oxide (GO) immobilized into gelatin hydrogel was used as the quasi-solid state gel electrolyte. This study is concerned with the effects of different GO concentration in gelatin and effect of NiO content on the energy conversion efficiency of the quasi-solid state DSSCs. DSSCs fabricated by using conventional TiO 2 shows maximum open circuit voltage (V oc ) of 0.68 V, short circuit current density (J sc ) of 3.06 mA cm −2 and power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 1.31% at an optimum concentration of 0.1% GO in gelatin, as graphene oxide forms some networks with gelatin matrix which enhances charge transportation through the gel electrolyte. The optimized NiO@TiO 2 photoanode (i.e. 5% NiO content) achieved a PCE of 4.02%, J sc of 7.68 mA cm −2 and V oc of 0.75 V.