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Synthesis of reduced graphene oxide coated with Au@Au2S nanocomposite and study of its photovoltaic properties for use in dye-sensitized solar cells

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Abstract

In dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), the photoanode plays a crucial role in absorbing light and generating charge carriers. TiO2 is commonly used as the photoanode material, while it has limitations in terms of light absorption and charge transport efficiency, which can affect the overall performance of DSSCs. To overcome these limitations, one promising approach involves incorporating nanocomposites into the TiO2 photoanode to improve its light absorption and charge transport properties. In this study, a new reduced graphene oxide-gold-gold(I) sulfide (rGO-Au@Au2S) nanocomposite was synthesized for doping in the photoanode of DSSCs to improve the plasmonic properties and performance of the DSSCs devices. The rGO-Au@Au2S nanocomposite was characterized using SEM, HRTEM, EDS, XRD, FT-IR, UV–Vis, Raman spectroscopy, photoluminescence analysis, and BET techniques. Based on the results, during the formation of Au@Au2S nanostructures on the GO, these sheets were reduced to rGO. Also, with the growth of the sulfide shell on the surface of Au nanoparticles, the plasmonic absorption peak of gold nanoparticles shifted to the infrared region (780 nm). Also, by adding different weight ratios of rGO-Au@Au2S to TiO2 photoanodes, the performance of the DSSCs was improved so that in the weight ratio of 1.85 wt%, the efficiency of DSSCs increased by 37%. The improvement in solar cell efficiency is attributed to increased light absorption and reduced electron-hole recombination. This was achieved by utilizing the high specific surface area of GO and the plasmonic property of Au@Au2S, which enhanced light absorption in the infrared region and the overall solar cell efficiency.

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Data availability

The authors declare that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the paper. Should any raw data files be needed in another format they are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Physics, Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, Kerman, Iran

    Hamideh Hasanzadeh Jeshari & Hossein Rooholamini Nejad

  2. Department of chemistry, Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, Kerman, Iran

    Vahid Saheb

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  1. Hamideh Hasanzadeh Jeshari
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by HHJ, HRN, and VS. The first draft of the manuscript was written by HHJ and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Hossein Rooholamini Nejad.

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Hasanzadeh Jeshari, H., Rooholamini Nejad, H. & Saheb, V. Synthesis of reduced graphene oxide coated with Au@Au2S nanocomposite and study of its photovoltaic properties for use in dye-sensitized solar cells. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 34, 2127 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-023-11588-z

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