One‐pot Synthesis of CZTS/RGO Composite Material and its Electro‐Catalytic Performance towards Triiodide Reduction in Dye‐Sensitized Solar Cells

Abstract

AbstractThe composite material of quaternary kesterite type Cu2ZnSnS4 and reduced graphene oxide (CZTS/RGO) was successfully synthesized by a one‐pot hydrothermal synthesis method. When applied as counter electrode materials for dye‐sensitized solar cells, it shows better electro‐catalytic performance towards reduction of triiodide. The DSSCs based on CZTS/RGO counter electrode shows a maximum solar‐to‐electrical power efficiency of 3.08%, which is much higher than that of pure CZTS counter electrode (1.41%) and pure RGO counter electrode (1.55%) prepared under the same conditions. The weight percent of GO to CZTS raw material used to synthesize CZTS/RGO is an important factors to affect the photovoltaic performance of DSSCs based on CZTS/RGO counter electrode. It is believed that as‐synthesized CZTS/RGO can potentially be used as alternative counter electrode materials to replace the expensive Pt counter electrode, and this one‐pot synthetic method will be helpful for exploring facile synthetic route of low‐cost and efficient CZTS based composite counter electrode materials.