UV-Irradiation synthesized α-Fe2O3 nanoparticles based dye-sensitized solar cells

Abstract

Nanoparticles are commonly used in various fields, including environmental science, analytical chemistry, agriculture, medicine, and energy. This is because of the unique properties of NPs and the innovation they provide to such applications. Because of their physical properties and technological potential, nanoparticles have gotten a lot of attention. In this study, iron oxide nanoparticles (α-Fe2O3 NPs) via a photolysis process utilizing UV lamb are described. The Nano-powder was studied using transmittance electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Energy Dispersive X-Ray Analysis (EDX), photoluminescence spectroscopy(PL), and field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM). The particles size of the α-Fe2O3 NPs was to be 25 nm confirmed by FE-SEM. The X-ray diffraction analysis indicated no impurity peaks. PL spectroscopy was used to analyze the optical properties, and the energy gap was reported to be 2.49 eV. The broad bandgap is a semiconductor property that could be used in solar cell applications. We employed photochemically produced α-Fe2O3 NPs as a photo-anode in dye-sensitized solar cells. As counter electrodes, graphene oxide (GO) Nano-Sheets and graphene oxide-silver (GO-Ag) nanocomposite were used in this study. Cibacron brilliant red B is one of the colors utilized in the textile sector in Wasit Governorate. The rest is usually released as wastewater, which we used as a photosensitizer in our studies. The short-current density (Jsc), open-circuit voltage (Voc), efficiency (ɳ), and fill factor (FF) were measured using J-V curves, with efficiency ranging from 0.810 to 2.13 %. Eventually, the inclusion of Iron oxide nanoparticles combined with a cibacron brilliant red B dye has been shown to improve the performance of dye-sensitized solar cells.