title: Single Walled Carbon Nanohorns as Catalytic Counter Electrodes for Co(III)/(II) Electron Mediators in Dye Sensitized Cells.
abstract: The electrochemical properties of both pristine single walled carbon nanohorns (SWCNHS) and their chemically oxidized form (ox-SWCNHS) spray coated onto fluorine doped SnO2 (FTO) were investigated in the framework of the fabrication of cobalt based transparent dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). These new nanocarbon substrates, evaluated in conjunction with the Co(bpy)3(2+/3+) (bpy = 2,2'-bipyridine) redox mediator, are endowed with excellent electrocatalytic properties, ease of fabrication, and very promising stability and display a great potential for replacing the best noble metal and conductive polymer catalytic materials in the building of semitransparent counter electrodes in new generation photoelectrochemical devices.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Ferrara , Via Fossato di Mortara 17, 44121 Ferrara, Italy.
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Carli
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Ferrara , Via Fossato di Mortara 17, 44121 Ferrara, Italy.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Casarin
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Trieste , Piazzale Europa 1, 34127 Trieste, Italy.
authors.forename: Zois
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Syrgiannis
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Ferrara , Via Fossato di Mortara 17, 44121 Ferrara, Italy.
authors.forename: Rita
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Boaretto
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Ferrara , Via Fossato di Mortara 17, 44121 Ferrara, Italy.
authors.forename: Elisabetta
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Benazzi
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Ferrara , Via Fossato di Mortara 17, 44121 Ferrara, Italy.
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Caramori
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Trieste , Piazzale Europa 1, 34127 Trieste, Italy.|Carbon Nanobiotechnology Laboratory, CIC biomaGUNE, Paseo de Miramón 182, 20009 Donostia-San Sebastian, Spain.|Basque Fdn Sci, Ikerbasque, Bilbao 48013, Spain.
authors.forename: Maurizio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Prato
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Ferrara , Via Fossato di Mortara 17, 44121 Ferrara, Italy.
authors.forename: Carlo Alberto
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Bignozzi
keywords: PEDOT; cobalt redox mediators; dye sensitized solar cells; electrochemical impedance spectroscopy; single walled carbon nanohorns