title: N-doped graphene nanoribbons as efficient metal-free counter electrodes for disulfide/thiolate redox mediated DSSCs.
abstract: Nitrogen-doped graphene nanoribbons (N-GNRs) were prepared by thermal treatment of the as-zipped graphene oxide nanoribbons in NH3 gas. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements revealed a high nitrogen content up to 6.5 atom% for the as-prepared N-GNRs. This, together with the high Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area of about 751 cm(2) g(-1), prompted us to use the N-GNR as the first low-cost, metal-free counter electrode for disulfide/thiolate redox mediated dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Compared with the widely-used platinum electrode, the newly-developed N-GNR counter electrode showed a dramatically improved power conversion efficiency for DSSCs based on the thiolate/disulfide redox shuttle. The observed superior cell performance was attributed to the enhanced charge transfer capability and electrocatalytic activity induced by N-doping of the graphene nanoribbon.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Advanced Materials for Nano-Bio Applications, School of Ophthalmology & Optometry, Wenzhou Medical College, 270 Xueyuan Xi Road, Wenzhou, Zhejiang 325027, China. chenhao@mail.eye.ac.cn jia.qu@163.com.
authors.forename: Yuhua
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xue
authors.forename: Janice M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Baek
authors.forename: Hao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Jia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Qu
authors.forename: Liming
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Dai