Construction of Highly Catalytic Porous TiOPC Nanocomposite Counter Electrodes for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells.
Developing low-cost, durable, and highly catalytic counter electrode (CE) materials based on earth-abundant elements is essential for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). In this study, we report a highly active nanostructured compositional material, TiOPC, which contains titanium, oxygen, phosphorus, and carbon, for efficient CE in I3-/I-electrolyte. The TiOPC nanocomposites are prepared from carbon thermal transformation of TiP2O7in an atmosphere of nitrogen at high temperature, and their catalytic performance is regulated by changing the carbon content in the nanocomposites. The TiOPC with appropriate 24.6 wt % carbon and porous structure exhibits an enhanced electrocatalytic activity in the reduction of I3-, providing a short-circuit current density of 16.64 mA cm-2, an open-circuit potential of 0.78 V, and an energy conversion efficiency of 8.65%. The photovoltaic performance of TiOPC CE-based DSSC is even superior to that of a Pt CE-based cell (13.80 mA cm-2, 0.79 V, and 6.66%). The enhanced catalytic activity of TiOPC is attributed to the presence of predominant Ti-O-P-C structure along with the continuous conductive carbon network and the porous structure.
College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xinyang Normal University , Xinyang 464000, China.
Ming
M
Chen
Grirem Advanced Materials Co., Ltd., General Research Institute for Nonferrous Metals , Beijing 100088, China.
Leng Leng
LL
Shao
College of Chemistry, Nankai University , Tianjin 300071, China.
Yan
Y
Xia
College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xinyang Normal University , Xinyang 464000, China.|Department of Chemistry, Xavier University of Louisiana , New Orleans, Louisiana 700125, United States.
Zhong-Yuan
ZY
Huang
College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xinyang Normal University , Xinyang 464000, China.
Dong-Li
DL
Xu
College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xinyang Normal University , Xinyang 464000, China.
Zong-Wen
ZW
Zhang
College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xinyang Normal University , Xinyang 464000, China.
Zhou-Xin
ZX
Chang
College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xinyang Normal University , Xinyang 464000, China.
Wei-Jie
WJ
Pei
Ti−O−P−C structure; counter electrode; dye-sensitized solar cell; electrocatalytic activity; nanocomposite electrocatalyst