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Fabrication of dispersible graphene flakes using thermal plasma jet and their thin films for solar cells
- Source :
- Carbon. 106:48-55
- Publication Year :
- 2016
- Publisher :
- Elsevier BV, 2016.
-
Abstract
- Graphene has generated tremendous interest over the past decade because of its extraordinary properties and potential applications. In this work, dispersible graphene flakes were successfully fabricated via a one-step process using a thermal plasma jet system. The graphene flakes fabricated by injection of ethylene gas as a carbon source (500 sccm) were very pure, contained no oxygen, and were few layered. Although their average size was larger than 100 nm, they were well-dispersed in organic solvents by sonication. The production rate based on the collected amount was approximately 1.5 g/h. As a representative application, thin films of the graphene flakes were fabricated on fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) glass using three deposition techniques. The resulting dye-sensitized solar cell with a graphene flake/FTO counter electrode exhibited a power conversion efficiency of 9.03%, which was similar to the efficiency of the solar cell with a conventional Pt/FTO counter electrode. Therefore, our graphene flake/FTO electrode could be used as a substitute for the conventional Pt/FTO counter electrode for DSSCs as graphene flakes are much less expensive than Pt. In addition to this specific application, dispersible graphene could be used in the fabrication of composites as well as various energy storage, sensor, and electronic devices.
- Subjects :
- Auxiliary electrode
Materials science
Graphene
Graphene foam
Nanotechnology
02 engineering and technology
General Chemistry
010402 general chemistry
021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology
01 natural sciences
0104 chemical sciences
law.invention
Chemical engineering
law
Solar cell
Electrode
General Materials Science
Thin film
0210 nano-technology
Graphene nanoribbons
Graphene oxide paper
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 00086223
- Volume :
- 106
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Carbon
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi...........b67d7cc79271256988bfeeeb597fadfb