The feasible photoanode of graphene oxide/zinc aluminum mixed metal oxides for the dye-sensitized solar cell

The graphene oxide (GO)/zinc aluminum mixed metal oxide (ZnAl-MMO) was synthesized successfully and used as photoanode for the dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC). ZnAl-MMO was prepared by a facile method using ZnAl-layered double hydroxide (LDH) as the precursor. After doping different amounts of graphene oxide in LDH, a series of GO/ZnAl-MMO nanocomposites were obtained and worked as photoanodes of the DSSC. The presence of graphene oxide was confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman and other characterizations, and the influence of graphene oxide on the properties of material and DSSC was studied in detail. The result presented that the introduction of graphene oxide improved the photovoltaic performance of the cell. As the amount of GO increases, the photocurrent of the cell first increases and then decreases. The performance of the cell doped 30 ml graphene oxide solution (1 mg/ml) was the best in this experiment and the excess graphene oxide led to the decrease of the efficiency. The best efficiency of DSSC with dye D205 based ZnAl-30 ml GO reached 0.55%, which was about 34% higher than that of plain ZnAl-MMO. [Display omitted] •GO/ZnAl-MMO based on LDH was successfully synthesized.•GO/ZnAl-MMO was used as the photoanode of the DSSC.•The addition of GO improved Jsc and PCE of the DSSC.•The excess GO was unfavorable to the generation of carriers.•The DSSC showed the best efficiency of 0.55%.