The fabrication of graphene-polypyrrole composite for application with dye-sensitized solar cells

This research is to study the preparation of graphene-monodispersed polypyrrole composite materials for uses as a counter electrode in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The preparation started with the synthesis of graphene oxide (GO), followed by the preparation of composite films by polymerization method and the GO reduction process by ascorbic acid. The characterizations included thermal-gravimetric analysis (TGA), fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), field-emission electron microscopy (FESEM) and cyclic voltammetry (CV). The DSSCs' efficiency tests were also conducted and analyzed. Based on the test results, it was found that DSSCs prepared from PPy/RGO-5 composite films with 5% by weight of reduced graphene oxide (RGO) could give an optimal efficiency. Nevertheless, the efficiency of such solar cells was much less than that of DSSCs with platinum counter electrode. This could be due to incomplete reduction of graphene oxide, resulting low electron transfer ability and electrocatalytic activity toward the reduction of electrolyte solution. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.