Synthesis and photovoltaic performance of reduced graphene oxide–TiO2 nanoparticles composites by solvothermal method

Highlights: ► Graphene–TiO2 nanocrystals composites are prepared by a simple solvothermal method. ► Photoanodes films with 0.75 wt% graphene reach the best efficiency of 5.48%. ► Graphene reduces intrinsic resistance and prolongs electron transporting life-time. -- Abstract: In the present work, the reduced graphene oxide (RGO)–TiO2 nanocrystals composites are prepared by a simple solvothermal method, and then are used as the photo-anodes in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The result shows that the decoration of the P25 nanoparticles with reduced graphene oxide will favor for the promotion of the conversion efficiency in DSSCs. The photo-anodes films of 0.75 wt% RGO–TiO2 composites reach the best conversion efficiency of 5.5%, and it's of 31% higher than that of the pure P25 photo-anodes films, which lies in the fact that the reduced graphene oxide in the TiO2 composites may reduce the intrinsic resistance and prolong the life-time of the electron transfer in DSSCs