Hierarchical titania mesoporous sphere/graphene composite, synthesis and application as photoanode in dye sensitized solar cells

Jiuli Chang; Jiangli Yang; Pengfei Ma; Dapeng Wu; Li Tian; Zhiyong Gao; Kai Jiang; Lin Yang

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2012.12.009

Hierarchical titania mesoporous sphere/graphene composite, synthesis and application as photoanode in dye sensitized solar cells

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2013 Mar 15:394:231-6. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2012.12.009. Epub 2012 Dec 19.

Authors

Jiuli Chang¹, Jiangli Yang, Pengfei Ma, Dapeng Wu, Li Tian, Zhiyong Gao, Kai Jiang, Lin Yang

Affiliation

¹ College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Henan Normal University, Henan, Xinxiang 453007, PR China.

PMID: 23321426
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2012.12.009

Abstract

Hierarchical TiO(2) mesoporous sphere/graphene composites (HTMS/Gs) were prepared by incorporation proper amounts of graphene oxide (GO) into the reaction system toward hierarchical TiO(2) mesoporous spheres (HTMSs). The HTMS/Gs inherit the merits of high specific surface area derived from both HTMS and graphene, as well as the well conductivity of graphene. Power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) using HTMS/Gs as photoanode materials were also investigated. The graphene content in HTMS/G exhibited great influence on PCE. Lower graphene content in HTMS/G showed superior dye adsorption capacity, lower charge recombination and thus higher photocurrent density over bare HTMS. However, excessive graphene promoted the recombination of photo-generated electrons, which deteriorated the PCE. Due to the high dye adsorption capacity and the prolonged electron recombination lifetime, the HTMS/G contains 5.68 wt.% graphene, denoted as HTMS/G(5.68), boosted up the short circuit current density (J(sc)) to 16.17 mA/cm(2), and a PCE of 7.19% was achieved, which is 21.8% higher than that of bare HTMS.