High performance dye-sensitized solar cells using graphene modified fluorine-doped tin oxide glass by Langmuir–Blodgett technique

•By LB technique, r-GO sheets were coated on FTO without physical deformation.•DSSCs were fabricated with, r-GO modified FTO substrates.•With surface modification by r-GO, the interface resistance of DSSC decreased.•Maximum PCE of the DSSC was increased up to 8.44%.

Since the introduction of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) with low fabrication cost and high power conversion efficiency, extensive studies have been carried out to improve the charge transfer rate and performance of DSSCs. In this paper, we present DSSCs that use surface modified fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) substrates with reduced graphene oxide (r-GO) sheets prepared using the Langmuir–Blodgett (LB) technique to decrease the charge recombination at the TiO2/FTO interface. R-GO sheets were excellently attached on FTO surface without physical deformations such as wrinkles; effects of the surface coverage of r-GO on the DSSC performance were also investigated. By using graphene modified FTO substrates, the resistance at the interface of TiO2/FTO was reduced and the power conversion efficiency was increased to 8.44%.

Graphical abstractDSSCs with graphene modified FTO glass were fabricated with the Langmuir Blodgett technique. GO sheets were transferred to FTO at various surface pressures in order to change the surface density of graphene and the highest power conversion efficiency of the DSSC was 8.44%.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide