Boron-doped graphene quantum dots: an efficient photoanode for a dye sensitized solar cell

Abstract

Boron-doped graphene quantum dots (B-GQDs) have been synthesized via a microwave reactor assisted process from bulk boron carbide (B₄C) crystals and they are shown to exhibit enhanced photoactivity. The B-GQDs are found to have an average lateral width of ∼6 ± 2 nm, and thickness of ∼0.2–0.3 nm. Nano ZnO is incorporated into these B-GQDs to prepare a B-GQDs-ZnO composite based high-performance photo-anode for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells (DSSCs). The results showed the highest power conversion efficiency of ∼3.7% with these new composite based DSSCs, showing the potential of this composite in real cell applications.