High stable with efficient dye-sensitized solar cell-based Al₂O₃/graphene hybrid photoanode fabricated by simple household microwave irradiation technique

A facile and one-step microwave irradiation approach was adapted to fabricate the hybrid photoanode of aluminum oxide (Al₂O₃)/graphene (GR) nanocomposite and scientifically investigated their structural, morphological and optical properties by XRD, TEM, Raman, UV, PL and BET analysis. XRD and TEM results exposed that crystal symmetry and exhibited face centered lattice with uniform plate-like nanoparticles are homogeneously covered on the surface of the graphene sheets. Mesoporous with nature with high pore size and huge surface area of Al₂O₃/GR is identified by N₂ adsorption–desorption analysis. A significant reduction in the band gap energy (4.42–3.62 eV) and rapid electron–hole pair generation process of the hybrid materials was found by UV-DRS and PL spectra analysis. Sandwich type solar cell was fabricated by deposition the hybrid materials on FTO glass substrate and technically studied the photovoltaic (PV) parameters through J–V characteristics. The results express that Al₂O₃/GR hybrid photoanode show fabulous photo conversion efficiency (PCE) of (8.21%) and high stability than compared with bare Al₂O₃.