Electrochemical performance of decorated reduced graphene oxide by MoO3 nanoparticles as a counter electrode

Abstract

We present an efficient electrocatalytic material based on anchored MoO3 nanoparticles on reduced graphene oxide (RGO) nanosheets. After preparation of graphene oxide (GO), the MoO3 nanoparticles anchored on GO nanosheet by using the arc-discharge method. X-ray diffraction patterns show that the MoO3 nanoparticles are well crystallized on RGO in the orthorhombic crystalline phase with a crystallite size of 83 nm. In addition, FT-IR and Raman spectroscopy results show that during the arc-discharge process, the GO nanosheets have been reduced and RGO nanosheets are decorated with MoO3 nanoparticles which form a porous structure. The surface energy of the prepared electrode was measured as 44.56 mJ/m2, which shows the desirable spreading ability of the electrolyte on the electrode. Finally, electrochemical performance was measured in the symmetrical dummy cell by impedance spectroscopy and cyclic voltammogram, and the photochemical test was measured in the dye-sensitized solar cell by current density measurement. Our results show that the electrochemical performance of the RGM electrode is better than the RGO electrode and is comparable with the Platinum electrode and also the efficiency of RGM electrode used in a dye-sensitized solar cell as a counter electrode is 5.55% near to Platinum electrode performance.