HFCVD grown graphene like carbon–nickel nanocomposite thin film as effective counter electrode for dye sensitized solar cells

•Graphene like carbon (GLC)–nickel (Ni) nanocomposite thin film is grown by HFCVD.•GLC–Ni/FTO electrode exhibits highly uniform and wrinkled nanosheets morphology.•GLC–Ni/FTO electrode shows good electrocatalytic activity to the reduction of I3− ion.•Moderate conversion efficiency is obtained by DSSC with GLC–Ni/FTO electrode.

The two step processes of hot filament chemical vapor deposition (HFCVD) and DC sputtering were used to grow graphene like carbon (GLC)–nickel (Ni) nanocomposite thin film on fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) glass and applied as counter electrode (CE) for dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The morphological and absorption properties revealed uniform GLC–Ni thin film with reasonable transmittance. The GLC–Ni thin film showed enhanced electrical conductivity as compared to FTO. The good electrocatalytic activity towards iodide ions in redox electrolyte was showed by the prepared GLC–Ni/FTO thin film electrode. The fabricated DSSC with GLC–Ni/FTO counter electrode (CE) presented relatively moderate solar-to-electrical conversion efficiency of ∼3.1% with high short-circuit current density (JSC) of ∼10.03 mA/cm2, open circuit voltage (VOC) of ∼0.663 V with fill factor (FF) of ∼0.45, which might attribute to enhanced electrical conductivity and the electrocatalytic activity of GLC–Ni/FTO CE.

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