Abstract
In this work, reduced graphene oxide (rGO) was produced from graphene oxide (GO) by a reduction process, which utilised hydrazine hydrate as reducing agent. GO was initially synthesised by electrochemical exfoliation assisted with customised triple-tail sodium 1,4-bis(neopentyloxy)-3-(neopentyloxycarbonyl)-1,4-dioxobutane-2-silphonate (TC14) surfactant. The produced TC184-rGO solution was subsequently hybridised with multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) from waste palm oil. The produced TC14-rGO and TC14-rGO/MWCNTs hybrid solution was fabricated as thin films by spray coating method. Afterwards, Pt nanoparticle (NP) coating was fabricated. The films were used as counter electrode (CE) for dye-sensitised solar cell (DSSC) application. Three other CEs, namely TC14-rGO, TC14-rGO/MWCNTs hybrid and TC14-rGO/Pt hybrid, were fabricated for comparison. Zinc oxide nanowire (NWR)/titanium dioxide nanoparticle (NP) bilayer was utilised as photoanode and fabricated via sol–gel immersion and squeegee method. Solar simulator measurement showed that the highest DSSC performance was exhibited by TC14-rGO/MWCNTs/Pt hybrid, which presented an energy conversion efficiency, open-circuit voltage, short-circuit-current density and fill factor of 0.0842%, 0.608 V, 0.285 mA/cm2 and 0.397, respectively. The combination of TC14-rGO/MWCNTs/Pt hybrid CE and ZnO NWR/TiO2 NP bilayer photoanode improved the DSSC performance due to the large surface area of TC14-rGO and MWCNTs, the high electrical conductivity of MWCNTs and the high quality and less agglomeration of thin rGO film assisted with triple-tail TC14 surfactant. The ZnO NWR/TiO2 NP bilayer photoanode also demonstrated a large surface area that can optimally adsorb dye molecules and increase the photo-exciton electrons, which further improve the DSSC performance.
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