Incorporation of 3D crumpled graphene in nanostructured TiO2 films for dye-sensitized solar cells

The characteristics of three-dimensional crumpled graphene (3D CGR) incorporated into TiO2 photoanode film for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) were investigated. The 3D CGR was prepared from a colloidal solution of graphene oxide (GO) via an aerosol spray-drying process. The morphological and optical properties of the as-fabricated 3D CGR/TiO2 photoanodes were systematically investigated. Furthermore, the photovoltaic characteristics of DSSCs fabricated with 3D CGR/TiO2 photoanodes with different amounts of 3D CGR were investigated. The DSSCs fabricated with the 3D CGR/TiO2 photoanode (3D CGR/TiO2=0.01) showed the highest conversion efficiency of 6.3%, which was approximately 47% higher than that of a DSSC fabricated with a pure TiO2 photoanode.