title: NH3-treated WO3 as low-cost and efficient counter electrode for dye-sensitized solar cells.
abstract: A novel low-cost and efficient counter electrode (CE) was obtained by treating catalytic inert tungsten trioxide (WO3) nanomaterial in NH3 atmosphere at elevated temperatures. The formation of tungsten oxynitride from WO3 after NH3 treatment, as evidenced by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction, increases the catalytic activity of the CE. Correspondingly, the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the DSC is significantly increased from 0.9% for pristine WO3 CE to 5.9% for NH3-treated WO3 CE. The photovoltaic performance of DSC using NH3-treated WO3 CE is comparable to that of DSC using standard Pt CE (with a PCE of 6.0%). In addition, it is also shown that NH3 treatment is more efficient than H2 or N2 treatment in enhancing the catalytic performance of WO3 CE. This work highlights the potential of NH3-treated WO3 for the application in DSCs and provides a facile method to get highly efficient and low-cost CEs from catalytic inert metal oxides.
authors: State Key Laboratory of Alternate Electrical Power System with Renewable Energy Sources, School of Renewable Energy, North China Electric Power University, No. 2 Beinong Rd, Changping, Beijing, 102206 China.
authors: Dandan
authors: D
authors: Song
authors: State Key Laboratory of Alternate Electrical Power System with Renewable Energy Sources, School of Renewable Energy, North China Electric Power University, No. 2 Beinong Rd, Changping, Beijing, 102206 China.
authors: Zhao
authors: Z
authors: Chen
authors: State Key Laboratory of Alternate Electrical Power System with Renewable Energy Sources, School of Renewable Energy, North China Electric Power University, No. 2 Beinong Rd, Changping, Beijing, 102206 China.
authors: Peng
authors: P
authors: Cui
authors: State Key Laboratory of Alternate Electrical Power System with Renewable Energy Sources, School of Renewable Energy, North China Electric Power University, No. 2 Beinong Rd, Changping, Beijing, 102206 China ; Suzhou Institute, North China Electric Power University, No. 377 Linquan Rd, Dushuhu, Suzhou, 215123 China.
authors: Meicheng
authors: M
authors: Li
authors: State Key Laboratory of Alternate Electrical Power System with Renewable Energy Sources, School of Renewable Energy, North China Electric Power University, No. 2 Beinong Rd, Changping, Beijing, 102206 China.
authors: Xing
authors: X
authors: Zhao
authors: State Key Laboratory of Alternate Electrical Power System with Renewable Energy Sources, School of Renewable Energy, North China Electric Power University, No. 2 Beinong Rd, Changping, Beijing, 102206 China.
authors: Yaoyao
authors: Y
authors: Li
authors: State Key Laboratory of Alternate Electrical Power System with Renewable Energy Sources, School of Renewable Energy, North China Electric Power University, No. 2 Beinong Rd, Changping, Beijing, 102206 China.
authors: Lihua
authors: L
authors: Chu
keywords: Catalytic; Counter electrode; NH3 treatment; Power conversion efficiency; Tungsten trioxide (WO3)