Investigation of TiO2 - multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) composite as an effective photo anode in dye sensitized solar cell.

In this work, we report the synthesis of MWCNTs incorporated TiO2 nanotubes (TNTs) to make a hybrid nanocomposite of TNT - MWCNTs. The as-synthesized TNT - MWCNTs composite structural, optical, elemental analysis was characterized by using different techniques such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV-visible spectroscopy, and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDAX), elemental mapping. The morphology and formation of TiO2 - MWCNTs composite nanotubes was confirmed from electron microscopy techniques viz., field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM) and high-resolution transmission electron microscope (HR-TEM). The effect of concentration of MWCNTs in TNT-MWCNT photoanode on the performance for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) was investigated. The performance of DSSCs were evaluated by measuring photocurrent voltage (I-V) characteristics and electrochemical impedance spectroscopic (EIS) and found that the power conversion efficiency of DSSC depends on the concentration MWCNT in the photoanode. DSSC fabricated using 6 wt % of MWCNT with respect to TiO2 containing nanocomposite as photoanode has shown high power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 1.99%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]