Influence of Graphene (0.01 wt. %) on Structural, Morphological and Photovoltaic Properties of TiO<sub>2</sub>-Based DSSC Using Electrolyte Gel

Titanium dioxide (TiO 2 ) based dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) doped with reduced graphene oxide, rGO also known as graphene were fabricated at concentrations of 0.01 wt.% . The performance of TiO 2 /graphene based DSSC and TiO 2 based DSSC were studied using electrolytes; PAN-based gel electrolyte. The thin films were characterized using several characterizations such as scanning electron microscope (SEM), Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and current-voltage ( I-V ) measurement. The micrograph images obtained by SEM demonstrated that the thin films are highly porous. The XRD characterization showed that the crystalline particle of thin films is an anatase state and high percentage of carbon composition can be determined using EDX analysis. Through I-V characteristic, the current density J sc , open circuit-voltage V oc , fill-factor FF , and efficiency η of the TiO 2 -based DSSC were 0.196 mA/cm2, 0.44 V, 0.496 and 0.043% respectively. I-V characteristic showed an increase in values for rGO/TiO 2 based DSSC such as J sc = 1.177 mA/cm2, V oc = 0.66 V, FF = 0.656 and η = 0.509%. The addition of rGO concentration has improved the efficiency of DSSC while the use of electrolyte gel can sustain the stability of the cell.