Gamma radiation induced nickel oxide/reduced graphene oxide nanoflowers for improved dye-sensitized solar cells

Abstract

Gamma radiation (γ) exposure was used in dye-sensitised solar cell application to improve the power conversion efficiency. Nickel oxide/reduced graphene oxide (NiO/rGO) as the photoanode layer was prepared by chemical bath deposition method. The NiO/rGO samples were used as the control to analyse the NiO/rGO exposed to γ (NiO/rGO-γ). XRD, FESEM and UV–Vis measurement were conducted to study the structure, morphology and the optical analysis of the samples. NiO/rGO-γ nanoflowers were observed through FESEM images with improved morphology. The porosity of the thin films was also increased after the exposure of γ radiation. The increased energy band gap of NiO/rGO-γ annealed at 400 °C exhibited higher power conversion efficiency of 1.03% with Jsc, Voc anf FF of 29 mA/cm2, 0.15 and 0.3 V, respectively. © 2018, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.