Strategic design of 2D graphitic carbon nitride nanosheets anchored with CuFe2O4 nanoparticles for efficient photoanodes in DSSC applications

Abstract

The development of highly efficient and stable photoanodes is critical for advancing dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) toward practical applications in sustainable energy production. In this work, we introduce a novel hybrid photoanode design that incorporates two-dimensional (2D) graphitic carbon nitride (g-C₃N₄) nanosheets anchored with copper ferrite (CuFe₂O₄) nanoparticles. This innovative configuration leverages the synergistic properties of g-C₃N₄ and CuFe₂O₄ to address critical DSSC challenges, such as charge recombination, limited visible-light absorption, and stability. The hybrids were synthesized with g-C₃N₄ incorporated at weight ratios of 10 %, 20 %, and 30 %, respectively, to enhance the electrochemical properties of the photoanodes. The band gaps were estimated at 2.31, 2.07, 1.93, and 1.80 eV for CFCN0, CFCN10, CFCN20, and CFCN30, respectively, where ‘CFCN’ denotes CuFe₂O₄/g-C₃N₄ hybrid composites with varying g-C₃N₄ content. BET analysis revealed a significant increase in surface area from 74.41 m²/g for CuFe₂O₄ to 135.16 m²/g for CFCN30, along with an increase in pore volume and diameter. The optimized CFCN30 photoanode achieved a maximum efficiency of 7.92 %, with notable improvements in short-circuit current density (J_sc = 16.05 mA/cm²), open-circuit voltage (Voc = 0.72 V), and fill factor (FF = 0.66), attributed to the robust heterojunction formed between g-C₃N₄ and CuFe₂O₄. Additionally, the incident photon-to-current conversion efficiency (IPCE) reached 74.72 % at 530 nm, and the photocurrent density was 6.5 times higher than that of pristine CuFe₂O₄. These results highlight the potential of the CuFe₂O₄/g-C₃N₄ hybrid as a durable, high-performance photoanode, offering a promising avenue for overcoming current DSSC limitations and advancing solar energy technologies.