Graphene-incorporated Photoelectrodes for Dye-sensitized Solar Cells

Graphene, a single-atom-thick planar sheet of hexagonally arrayed sp² carbon atoms has attracted significant interest in the last decade in material science and energy related research. In particular, graphene has attracted considerable attention for the development of photoelectrodes of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The incorporation of graphene into DSSCs photoelectrodes induced lower recombination, increased electron transport kinetics, enhanced light scattering effect, and concurrently enhanced the power conversion efficiency (PCE). Graphene has been incorporated into the TiO₂ either by mixing or as an interfacial layer between TCO|TiO₂, TiO₂|dye, and TiO₂|TiO₂. Few studies have demonstrated the incorporation of graphene into ZnO- and NiO-based DSSCs. In all cases, the graphene-incorporated DSSC showed improved PCE. This article reviews the recent advances in the use of graphene as a photoelectrode building material in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs).