POWER CONTROL AND OPTIMIZATION: Proceedings of the 7th Global Conference on Power Control and Optimization
978-983-44483-63
Fabrication of Graphene Based Counter-Electrode for Dye Sensitized Solar Cell (DSSC) by using Bitumen precursor
Lwin Maung, Pho Kaung, Win Win Thar
PCO Conf-Proc 2008 (2013), - PDF
Abstract.
Conventional Dye Sensitized Solar Cell (DSSC) comprises the dye sensitized semiconductor photo-working electrode, the redox (reduction and oxidation) electrolyte and the electron transfer catalytic counter-electrode. Graphene is the suitable electron transfer catalyst for the DSSC because it’s higher active surface area, higher electron mobility, physically and chemically stabilization in the redox electrolyte of DSSC. Although it can be synthesized in different ways, the laborious steps and state of the art technology are needed and can result the higher cost of production. Hence, it is desirable to develop an eco-friendly simple technique to synthesize graphene. Graphene can be sensitized simply by the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) technique through the use of Bitumen product, Asphalt as the carbon precursor. A graphene layer was formed on the heated conductive glass substrate (ca.650°C) by the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of the carbon fumes from the thermal decomposition of Bitumen carbon precursor to get the graphene based counter-electrode. The formation of graphene layer was confirmed by X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and its surface morphology was examined by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). Thermo-gravimetric Analysis (TGA) was carried out to inform the stages of graphene synthesized reaction and the transition temperature of graphene formation. The effect of graphene electrode on the photovoltaic efficiency of DSSC was investigated by evaluating the current-voltage (I-V) measurement of DSSCs with and without graphene layer under the standard regional annual mean insolation (incoming solar radiation), 240Wm-2.
© 2013 PCO based on American Institute of Physics