Graphene-Based Transparent Electrodes for Dye Sensitized Solar Cells

Several Zinc Oxide (ZnO) photo-anodes were prepared with different morphologies. For each morphology, two composites containing graphene oxide (GO) were prepared. ZnO sheet-flowers attained the highest efficiency among control samples, owing to the light diffraction that may be caused by such morphology. On the other hand, ZnO rods achieved lower performance than ZnO sheet-flowers, but higher than ZnO flowers, due to their porosity and structure, which may scatter light effectively. The effect of including GO in the photoanode matrix was studied and the results demonstrate a significant increase in short circuit current density (Jsc). The addition of GO suggested an overall positive effect on cell performance, where samples of ZnO rods and Flowers had the most significant increase in their performance, due to the inhibition of charge recombination by GO.