Surfaces and Interfaces, cilt.87, 2026 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus)
Dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) are prominent in renewable energy research due to their low cost and ease of production. Modification of the photoanode structure plays a critical role in improving device performance. In this study, DSSC photoanodes were modified using Zeolitic-Imidazolate Framework (ZIF-67) and graphene oxide (GO) nanomaterials. Four different TiO2-based photoanodes were fabricated as pure TiO2, ZIF-67/TiO2, GO/TiO2, and ZIF-67/GO co-modified TiO2. Structural, optical and morphological analyses (XRD, FTIR, Raman, XPS, UV–Vis, BET, FE-SEM) confirmed the successful incorporation of the modifiers into photoanodes, while the photovoltaic performance of DSSCs was evaluated via I-V measurements under a solar simulator, and recombination dynamics were investigated using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The pure TiO2-based DSSC exhibited a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 1.196 %, which increased to 2.411 % with ZIF-67, 3.397 % with GO, and 3.571 % with ZIF-67/GO modification. The ZIF-67/GO hybrid interface enhanced dye adsorption, suppressed charge recombination, and improved charge transport, leading to an approximately three-fold increase in PCE. These findings demonstrate that DSSC performance can be significantly improved even in low-efficiency initial systems, offering a scalable and cost-effective interfacial engineering strategy. Furthermore, these results highlight the crucial role of hybrid surface modification in designing next-generation photoanodes for photovoltaic applications.