Effect of reducing agents on co-precipitation synthesis of titanium dioxide/reduced graphene oxide composite materials for upgrading the performance of dye-sensitized solar cells

Herein, titanium dioxide/reduced graphene oxide (TiO2/rGO) composite material was synthesized using the co-precipitation method to investigate reducing agents. The as-prepared TiO2/rGO composite material was employed to fabricate photoanode in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Experimental results showed that the reducing agents were essential in reducing GO into rGO. Still, they also had a significant influence on the bonding of rGO with TiO2, leading to the narrowing of band-gap energy photoanode material and enhancement of DSSCs performance. The high performance was recognized for DSSCs using ascorbic acid (6.94 %), hydrazine (7.08 %), and sodium borohydride (7.17 %), while low counterpart was affirmed to sodium citrate (5.54 %), and D-glucose (4.63 %) in comparison with pure TiO2 (6.82 %). Therefore, the findings from this research are highly expected to pave the way for optimizing coprecipitation synthesis of TiO2/rGO composite based on the favorable reducing agents, ultimately applying for the fabrication of DSSCs commercially. (C) 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

In this study, a TiO2/rGO composite material was synthesized through the co-precipitation method, and it was found that the choice of reducing agents had a significant impact on the performance of the material. By using the appropriate reducing agents, the band-gap energy of the photoanode material was narrowed and the efficiency of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) was enhanced. The findings of this research are expected to contribute to the optimization of TiO2/rGO composite synthesis and the commercial application of DSSCs.