Synthesis of novel ZrO 2 &GO@ TiO 2 nanocomposite as an efficient photoanode in dye-sensitized solar cells

Due to the physicochemical and photo-electro properties, TiO₂ nanostructures still being the outstanding photoanode materials in the dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs). However, it is well known that a low dye-loading and charge recombination constrain the limitation of large-scale application. This work introduces the synthesis of ZrO₂&GO@TiO₂ nanofibers (NFs) by facile two steps using electrospinning and hydrothermal treatment. Furthermore, the developed materials are applied as an efficient photoanode of DSCs. The synthesized NFs are described in terms of morphology, crystallography and chemistry via FESEM, TEM, XRD, Raman spectra and EDX analysis. As the results, the Ti, Zr, O and C elements are uniformly distributed in the synthesized sample. The percentages of the atomic elements are 10.77, 57.69, 1.45 and 30.09 for C, O, Zr and Ti, respectively. The synthesized composite shows only anatase with crystal size of 25.86 nm and cell volume of 142.39 Å³. The developed material is employed as working electrode of DSCs. The J-V characteristic showed 5.09% efficiency for device using the synthesized material, which is higher than those of cells assembled with TiO₂ NFs and ZrO₂@TiO₂ NFs photoanodes. The obtained result is explained by enhanced dye-loading (1.055 × 10¹⁷ molecule/cm²) and improved charge transfer resistance (R_ct = 9.18 Ω) of the photoanode substrate. Hence, the presented nanocomposite can be an efficient photoanode towards technology of DSC.