Fabrication of dye-sensitized solar cells using CuO/CdS/Ag₂O ternary nanocomposite as a catalyst

In this study, a ternary CuO/CdS/Ag₂O nanocomposite was prepared for the first time to generate DSSCs. The nanocomposite was used as a photoelectrode with two types of dyes (natural and synthetic) serving as absorbing media: a green dye extracted from chard and a yellow dye known as (quinoline yellow E104). The results also showed that the green dye has a higher conversion efficiency (η) in DSSCs than the yellow dye, due to several reasons, including the difference in energy band gap, which is larger for the yellow dye (3.612 eV) than for the green dye (3.19 eV). As a result, more wavelengths of light pass through the cells to be absorbed by the dye, and the absorption of the green dye on the nanomaterial surfaces is increased, leading to higher DSSC efficiency. In addition, the current generated by DSSCs using the synthetic yellow dye is lower than that of DSSCs made with the green dye due to impurities in the natural dye. The absorption spectroscopy also revealed the optical properties of the prepared ternary CuO/CdS/Ag₂O nanocomposite, measuring absorbance versus wavelength and (αhυ)² versus hυ for CuO/CdS/Ag₂O nanoparticles prepared by the co-precipitation method. The nanocomposite had an energy band gap of (2.63 eV). The ternary nanocomposite was characterized using XRD, SEM, and EDS techniques.