Enhanced performance of dye-sensitized solar cell-based g-C3N4/Ag3PO4 hybrid composites as novel electrodes fabricated by facial hydrothermal approach

Abstract

In this work, holey g-C3N4 nanosheet wrapped Ag3PO4 composite was prepared by facile hydrothermal method. The structural, morphological, optical and elemental composition of the samples were analyzed by X-ray diffraction, Scanning electron microscope, Transmission electron microscope, Raman, UV–Vis diffuse reflectance spectra, Photoluminescence, N2 adsorption–desorption and X-ray photoelectron spectra, respectively. Systematic investigation indicated that phosphorus was effectively doped into the g-C3N4 framework, which increases the BET surface area, expands the visible light response region, and elevates the separation efficiency of electron–hole pairs. Sandwich type DSSC was fabricated and studied the studied the J–V characteristics. The results suggest that the optimal composite electrode (APG-50) with Ag3PO4/g-C3N4 ratio of 3:1 showed high photo-conversion efficiency (9.71%) than compared with bare g-C3N4 (1.89%) and Ag3PO4 (2.52%) electrodes, respectively. Besides, the EIS comes about illustrate that the APG-50 test appears tall electron exchange proficiency and lifetime. The progressed instrument of the proposed materials was moreover examined in detail.