Preparation of CoS2 nanoflake arrays through ion exchange reaction of Co(OH)2 and their application as counter electrodes for dye-sensitized solar cells

RSC Advances ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (6) ◽  
pp. 4328-4333 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jung-Che Tsai ◽  
Min-Hsiung Hon ◽  
Ing-Chi Leu

CoS2 nanoflake arrays prepared on TCO were used as the counter electrode in DSSC application.

Author(s):  
Robert A. Sayer ◽  
Stephen L. Hodson ◽  
Timothy S. Fisher

Dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) offer many advantages in comparison to their Si-based counterparts, including lower cost of raw materials, faster manufacturing time, and the ability to be integrated with flexible substrates. Although many advances have been made in DSSC fabrication over recent years, their efficiency remains lower than commercially available Si photovoltaic cells. Here we report improved efficiency of TiO2/anthocyanin dye solar cell using aligned arrays of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) as a counter electrode. Dense vertically oriented CNT arrays are grown directly on the counter electrode using microwave plasma chemical vapor deposition and a tri-layer (Ti/Al/Fe) catalyst. The resulting arrays are 30 micrometers in height and have a number density of approximately five hundred million per square millimeter. By directly growing the CNTs on the counter electrode substrate, electrical interface conductance is enhanced. The performance of both as-grown and N-doped (using a nitrogen plasma) CNT arrays is reported. The fabricated DSSCs are tested under AM1.5 light. Increased short circuit current is observed in comparison to graphite and Pt counter electrodes. We attribute this improvement to the large surface area created by the 3D structure of the arrays in comparison to the planar geometry of the graphite and Pt electrodes as well as the excellent electrical properties of the CNTs.


2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (45) ◽  
pp. 23028-23034 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ranran Zhou ◽  
Wenxi Guo ◽  
Ruomeng Yu ◽  
Caofeng Pan

We present a highly flexible dye-sensitized solar cell composed of TiO2 nanotube arrays (TNARs) as the photoanode and a transparent Pt network electrode as the counter electrode (CE).


Author(s):  
Lu Zhang ◽  
Wei-Chao Chen ◽  
Ting Wang ◽  
Yun-Jiang Li ◽  
Chun-Hui Ma ◽  
...  

In the development of bifacial dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), the exploration of cost-benefit transparent counter electrode is a permanent target. Herein, we put forward a simple one-step strategy to load...


RSC Advances ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (79) ◽  
pp. 42087-42091 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lijuan Sun ◽  
Yu Bai ◽  
Kening Sun

Organic molecule controlled synthesis of three-dimensional rhododendra-like CoS and its application as counter electrode in DSSCs.


2010 ◽  
Vol 132 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert A. Sayer ◽  
Stephen L. Hodson ◽  
Timothy S. Fisher

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) offer many advantages in comparison to their Si-based counterparts, including lower cost of raw materials, faster manufacturing time, and the ability to be integrated with flexible substrates. Although many advances have been made in DSSC fabrication over recent years, their efficiency remains lower than commercially available Si photovoltaic cells. Here we report improved efficiency of TiO2/anthocyanin dye solar cell using vertically aligned arrays of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) as a counter electrode. Dense vertically oriented CNT arrays are grown directly on the counter electrode using microwave plasma chemical vapor deposition and a trilayer (Ti/Al/Fe) catalyst. The resulting arrays are 30 μm in height and have a number density of approximately 5×108/mm2. By directly growing the CNTs on the counter electrode substrate, electrical interface conductance is enhanced. The performance of both as-grown and N-doped (using a nitrogen plasma) CNT arrays is reported. The fabricated DSSCs are tested under AM1.5 light. Increased short-circuit current is observed in comparison to graphite and Pt counter electrodes. We attribute this improvement to the large surface area created by the 3D structure of the arrays in comparison to the planar geometry of the graphite and Pt electrodes, as well as the excellent electrical properties of the CNTs.


2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 1749-1755 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jing Ma ◽  
Hai-Lian Yang ◽  
Wei-Hua Ren

A novel bilayer counter electrodes for Dye-sensitized Solar Cells (DSSCs) made of reduced graphene oxide (RGO) and aligned carbon nanotube (ACNT) was developed. The underlayer ACNT severs as a transition layer for RGO. The overlayer of RGO plays the role of catalytic layer. It was demonstrated that the property of graphene counter electrode was adversely affected by aggregation, by adding surfactant, the aggregation of graphene can be inhabited effectively. Moreover, the interface between the RGO and the ACNT can be optimized by surfactant functionalization of RGO. After screening, a cationic surfactant cetylpyridinium chloride (CPC) functionalized RGO, code as CPC-RGO, exhibits the best performance. Compare to the ACNT based counter electrode and other surfactant functionalized RGO/ACNT based bilayer counter electrodes, the CPC-RGO/ACNT reduced interface resistance and improved the double chemical capacitance efficiently, thus uplifting the short circuit current density and fill factor from 7.35 to 8.8 mA cm-2, and 59.87 to 62.79, respectively. Eventually, the CPC-RGO/ACNT based DSSC giving a power conversion efficiency of 3.9%, which is 1.24-fold than that of ANCT based DSSC, because of the best splay degree of CPC/RGO.


RSC Advances ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (125) ◽  
pp. 103567-103572 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sajjad Hussain ◽  
Shoyebmohamad F. Shaikh ◽  
Dhanasekaran Vikraman ◽  
Rajaram S. Mane ◽  
Oh-Shim Joo ◽  
...  

In this work, continuous and large-area tungsten sulfide films, deposited by radio frequency sputtering followed by a sulfurization process, were applied as a low-cost platinum-free counter electrodes for dye-sensitized solar cells.


Nanoscale ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (38) ◽  
pp. 17579-17589 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vignesh Murugadoss ◽  
Jing Lin ◽  
Hu Liu ◽  
Xianmin Mai ◽  
Tao Ding ◽  
...  

Optimizing the graphene mass ratio in NiSe/GN counter electrodes enabled the fabrication of high performance dye-sensitized solar cells with excellent electrocatalytic activity and chemical stability.


RSC Advances ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (47) ◽  
pp. 41287-41293 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beili Pang ◽  
Lifeng Dong ◽  
Shuai Ma ◽  
Hongzhou Dong ◽  
Liyan Yu

Network structure graphene is used as an efficient counter electrode for DSSCs which is made from modified graphene after UV irradiation. The DSSCs with FTO-free graphene-based counter electrode exhibit an energy conversion efficiency of 9.33%.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 3795
Author(s):  
Edoardo Marchini ◽  
Stefano Caramori ◽  
Carlo Alberto Bignozzi ◽  
Stefano Carli

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) emerged in the early 1990s as a promising alternative to the classic silicon-based solar cell due to their unique combination of low cost, ease of fabrication, color palette for building integration, and high efficiency in indoor applications. This review article describes the fabrication and the properties of poly (3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT)-based catalytic counter electrodes (CEs) for DSSCs. In particular, the electrochemical reactivity PEDOT CEs used in conjunction with alternative redox mediators for DSSCs is outlined. Among alternative redox shuttles, cobalt and copper complexes, as well as totally organic thiolate/disulfide, have been considered. Finally, PEDOT can also be used as a hole conductor material in electrolyte-free solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells. This review clearly shows that the progress in DSSCs development is strongly linked to the introduction of PEDOT as a new counter electrode material.


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