Electrochemical Preparation of Copper Oxide Nanoparticles for Dye-sensitized Solar Cells Application
Abstract In this study, copper oxide nanostructures were prepared by an easy, simple, short time and economical electrochemical method using polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as stabilizing agents. Copper is used as precursor as melt anode electrode during electrolysis to prepare CuO particles. Characterization of the prepared CuO NPs was studied by field emission scanning (FE-SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The FE-SEM images of CuO / PVA and CuO / PVP were both rectangular parallel plates and regular cubes. TEM images prepared from CuO / PVA and CuO / PVP. It had an average size of 30-50 nm. The XRD results revealed the cubic structure of CuO nanoparticles. The optical properties of the prepared CuO / PVA and CuO / PVP nanoparticles were studied through UV / VIS spectroscopy. The optical band gap was found to be (3.60) eV and (3.65) eV for CuO / PVP and CuO / PVA respectively. Dye solar cells were designed using CuO / PVA and CuO / PVP as positive electrode (front electrode) and graphite as cathode (back electrode) Deposition on the surface of ITO glass in the presence of two types of natural dyes, such as cabbage and spinach, and iodine / iodine electrolyte solution. The PV cells prepared using spinach dye were more efficient. It is noticed from the data that the dye has a very important role in improving the efficiency of the solar cell, as the cells made from spinach gave a much higher efficiency than cells prepared from the red cabbage dye in all cases.