Graphene Quantum-Dot-Doped Polypyrrole Counter Electrode for High-Performance Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Abstract

Herein graphene quantum dot (GQD), a graphene material with lateral dimension less than 100 nm, is explored to dope PPy on F-doped tin oxide glass as an efficient counter electrode for high-performance dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The GQDs-doped PPy film has a porous structure in comparison to the densely structured plain PPy, and displays higher catalytic current density and lower charge transfer resistance than the latter toward I3(-)/I(-) redox reaction. The highest power conversion efficiency (5.27%) for DSSCs is achieved with PPy doped with10% GQDs, which is comparable to that of Pt counter electrode-based DSSCs. This work provides an inexpensive alternative to replace platinum for DSSCs.

CoS nanosheets-coupled graphene quantum dots architectures as a binder-free counter electrode for high-performance DSSCs

“…However, Pt is a noble metal with high expense and low storage, which will extensively limit the mass production and practical application of DSSCs. With this information, various materi- [20] firstly used graphene quantum dots (GQDs) to dope polypyrrole (PPY), where GQDs-doped PPY as CE for DSSCs achieved a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 5.27%, being superior to that of PPY (4.46%). Such an idea would be a promising and efficient strategy to further extend and boost the electrochemical performance of CoS-derived CE material.…”

“…Carbon quantum dots (CQDs), nano-sized carbon particles, have attracted growing interest due to their high photochemical stability, low toxicity, good biocompatibility, and low environmental impact [18,19]. It has also been demonstrated that CQDs are of great potential in energy storage and conversions [20][21][22]. It is well known that there are abundant negative charged oxygen-containing functional groups on the surface of CQDs.…”

Charge and energy transfer interplay in hybrid sensitized solar cells mediated by graphene quantum dots

“…Hence, their huge potential for memory devices [13], supercapacitors [14], fuel cells [15], photovoltaic devices [16,17], light-emitting diodes [18] was revealed. Furthermore, different architectures of solar cells based on GQDs have been proposed, where they form heterojunctions with crystalline silicon or silicon nanowires [19,20] and organic bulk heterojunction [21] on one hand, or they were embedded in polymers to replace the standard TiO 2 photoanode [22] or Pt counter electrode [23] in DSSCs on the other hand. In ultraviolet spectral range, GQDs have extinction coefficients ranging from 10 to 200·10 3 M -1 cm -1 [24], larger than that of common fluorophores, and comparable to those of semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) [25].…”

In-situ Grown Hybrid Nanocarbon Composite for Dye Sensitized Solar Cells

“…As well known, lattice defects such as defective sites at the edges of graphene are considered as main electrocatalytic active sites for the reduction of I 3 À [40,41]. Based on the fact that the edge planes of the graphene exhibit faster electron-transfer kinetics than the basal planes and the high D/G ratio exists in the shells of CNTs, the optimized hybrid CNTs/graphene with defectrich edge planes has great potential as the catalytic material for the reduction of I 3 À to be applied in DSSCs [10,42].…”