Abstract
A significant improvement in efficiency is achieved for porphyrin (YD2-o-C8) based dye-sensitized solar cells, coupled with [Co(bpy)3]3+/2+ mediator electrolyte. However, the poison of the counter electrode (CE) by the [Co(bpy)3]3+/2+ mediator remains a significant barrier to producing a reliable high-performance device. In this paper, nitrogen-doped graphene nanosheets (NG) are produced using a low-cost solution-based process and are used as the CE for [Co(bpy)3]3+/2+ based porphyrin-sensitized solar cells. These produce significantly better electrocatalytic activity than the commonly used Pt CE. The superior performance is a result of the increased number of catalytic sites and the wettable surface that is caused by the substitution of pyridinic and pyrrolic N into the carbon-conjugated lattice. To the authors' best knowledge, the significantly improved cycling stability (>1000 times) of NG CE for [Co(bpy)3]3+/2+ redox complexes is demonstrated for the first time.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 2116-2123 |
| Journal | ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces |
| Volume | 7 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 28 Jan 2015 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Publication details (e.g. title, author(s), publication statuses and dates) are captured on an “AS IS” and “AS AVAILABLE” basis at the time of record harvesting from the data source. Suggestions for further amendments or supplementary information can be sent to [email protected].Research Keywords
- cobalt mediator
- electrocatalytic reliability
- N-doped graphene
- porphyrin-sensitized solar cells
- surface wettability
