Carbonaceous Materials and Their Advances as a Counter Electrode in Dye‐Sensitized Solar Cells: Challenges and Prospects

Kouhnavard, Mojgan; Ludin, Norasikin Ahmad; Ghaffari, Babak Vazifehkhah; Sopian, Kamaruzzaman; Ikeda, Shoichiro

doi:10.1002/cssc.201500004

Cited by 80 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 141 publications

(226 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…3. More recently, Ikeda [55] and Subramania [56] have published feature reviews on carbonaceous material and conductive polymer CEs, respectively. The recent studies on synthesis strategies, electrochemical properties, and photovoltaic performances in DSSCs of carbon-based and conductive polymer-based CEs have been thoroughly summarized.…”

Section: Ces In Dsscsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recent advances in alloy counter electrodes for dye-sensitized solar cells. A critical review

Tang

Duan

et al. 2015

Electrochimica Acta

110

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Section: Ces In Dsscsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recent advances in alloy counter electrodes for dye-sensitized solar cells. A critical review

Tang

Duan

et al. 2015

Electrochimica Acta

110

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…Although the platinum catalyst is usually deposited by pyrolysis or sputtering without nanostructure engineering, it is rarely reported to have activities with other materials better than that of platinum. For example, carbon materials have superior electronic conductivity, but the low electrocatalytic activity should be compensated by nanostructure control as well as several micrometer thickness …”

Section: Rs and Rct Values Obtained From Eis Analysis With Two Identimentioning

confidence: 99%

Edge‐Oriented Tungsten Disulfide Catalyst Produced from Mesoporous WO₃ for Highly Efficient Dye‐Sensitized Solar Cells

Ahn

Manthiram

2015

Advanced Energy Materials

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

evolution by a large portion of edge sites. [ 13 ] Furthermore, it has been proposed that rapid sulfurization processes at high temperatures for MoS 2 naturally orient the MoS 2 layers perpendicular to fl at substrates, exposing the edges; similar oriented growth on the rough and curved surfaces could increase the surface area and maximize the exposed edge sites. [ 14,15 ] Such an edge-oriented MoS 2 fi lm has been obtained by optimizing the annealing temperature and time for high catalytic activity and long-term cycling stability. [ 12 ] Recently, application of MoS 2 [16][17][18] and WS 2 [ 19 ] for the CE of DSSCs has been reported, but the performance of DSSC is limited compared to that of platinum. A composite structure of these dichalcogenides with carbon materials is needed [ 18,20,21 ] to compensate for the lower conductivity of metal sulfi des fi lms.We present here mesoporous WO 3 fi lms with 3D, rough, and high-curvature surfaces followed by a rapid sulfurization process to prepare an edge-oriented WS 2 thin fi lm. The synergistic effects of maximized active edge sites on the high-curvature surface and facile electron transfer via continuous WS 2 building blocks lead to drastically enhanced catalytic activity toward triiodide reduction reaction in the CE of DSSCs. Electrochemical analysis demonstrates the high catalytic activity of the edgeoriented WS 2 toward triiodide reduction compared to Pt, and the DSSCs with optimized edge-oriented WS 2 exhibit power conversion effi ciency (PCE) of 8.85%, which is superior to even that with Pt as a CE (7.20%).The template-directed synthesis of mesoporous WO 3 and the post-sulfurization process for converting it into edge-oriented WS 2 are illustrated in Figure 1 . First, the mesoporous WO 3 thin fi lm was prepared with a amphiphilic graft copolymer, i.e., poly(vinyl chloride)-g-poly(oxyethylene methacrylate) (PVCg-POEM), as a structure-directing agent. [22][23][24] As a structuredirecting agent, the low-cost, easily synthesized graft copolymer could provide a universal framework by self-assembly to replicate it to different kinds of metal oxides with well-organized mesoporous structures. The self-assembly of PVC-g-POEM copolymer in tetrahydrofuran (THF) with hydrophilic hydrochloric acid and deionized water forms spherical micelles with a hydrophobic core surrounded by the POEM matrix as previously reported. [ 22,25 ] The tungsten precursor (WCl 6 ) and its hydrolyzed products preferentially incorporate into the hydrophilic POEM domains due to the favorable interactions by hydrogen bonding. As the THF was evaporated in a short time, well-organized mesoporous structure was formed by a solvent-evaporation-induced self-assembly (EISA) process, [ 26 ] as shown in Figure 1 a. Highly crystalline mesoporous WO 3 fi lm was obtained after annealing at 450 °C in air to remove the polymer template and the organic compounds (Figure 1 b). The Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) are one of the promising next-generation solar cells because of the high solar to electricity conver...

show abstract

“…[27] During the operations of organic/inorganic photovoltaics, extraction and collection of charge carriers from the light absorber to the external circuit are essential steps for solar-toelectrical energy conversion. [30,31] Meanwhile, state-of-the-art organic hole transport materials used in PSCs are either costly or unfavorable for long-term operations. In DSCs, Pt in counter electrodes is responsible for a large portion of manufacturing costs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Room‐Temperature Vapor Deposition of Cobalt Nitride Nanofilms for Mesoscopic and Perovskite Solar Cells

Kang

Kim²,

Yoon

et al. 2018

Advanced Energy Materials

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Organic/inorganic hybrid solar cells, typically mesoscopic and perovskite solar cells, are regarded as promising candidates to replace conventional silicon or thin film photovoltaics. There have been intensive investigations on the development of advanced materials for improved power conversion efficiencies, however, economical feasibilities and reliabilities of the organic/ inorganic photovoltaics are yet to reach at a sufficient level for practical utilizations. In this study, cobalt nitride (CoN) nanofilms prepared by roomtemperature vapor deposition in an inert N 2 atmosphere, which is a facile and highly reproducible procedure, are proposed as a low-cost counter electrode in mesoscopic dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) and a hole transport material in inverted planar perovskite solar cells (PSCs) for the first time. The CoN film successfully replaces conventional Pt in DSCs, resulting in a power conversion efficiency comparable to the ones based on Pt. In addition, PSCs employing the CoN manifest high efficiency even up to 15.0%, which is comparable to state-of-the-art performance in the cases of PSCs employing inorganic hole transporters. Furthermore, flexible solar cell applications of the CoN are performed in both mesoscopic and perovskite solar cells, verifying the advantages of the room-temperature deposition process and feasibilities of the CoN nanofilms in various fields.

show abstract

Carbonaceous Materials and Their Advances as a Counter Electrode in Dye‐Sensitized Solar Cells: Challenges and Prospects

Cited by 80 publications

References 141 publications

Recent advances in alloy counter electrodes for dye-sensitized solar cells. A critical review

Recent advances in alloy counter electrodes for dye-sensitized solar cells. A critical review

Edge‐Oriented Tungsten Disulfide Catalyst Produced from Mesoporous WO₃ for Highly Efficient Dye‐Sensitized Solar Cells

Room‐Temperature Vapor Deposition of Cobalt Nitride Nanofilms for Mesoscopic and Perovskite Solar Cells

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About

Carbonaceous Materials and Their Advances as a Counter Electrode in Dye‐Sensitized Solar Cells: Challenges and Prospects

Cited by 80 publications

References 141 publications

Recent advances in alloy counter electrodes for dye-sensitized solar cells. A critical review

Recent advances in alloy counter electrodes for dye-sensitized solar cells. A critical review

Edge‐Oriented Tungsten Disulfide Catalyst Produced from Mesoporous WO3 for Highly Efficient Dye‐Sensitized Solar Cells

Room‐Temperature Vapor Deposition of Cobalt Nitride Nanofilms for Mesoscopic and Perovskite Solar Cells

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About

Edge‐Oriented Tungsten Disulfide Catalyst Produced from Mesoporous WO₃ for Highly Efficient Dye‐Sensitized Solar Cells