In Situ Growth of Highly Adhesive Surface Layer on Titanium Foil as Durable Counter Electrodes for Efficient Dye-sensitized Solar Cells.
Counter electrodes (CEs) of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) are usually fabricated by depositing catalytic materials on substrates. The poor adhesion of the catalytic material to the substrate often results in the exfoliation of catalytic materials, and then the deterioration of cell performance or even the failure of DSCs. In this study, a highly adhesive surface layer is in situ grown on the titanium foil via a facile process and applied as CEs for DSCs. The DSCs applying such CEs demonstrate decent power conversion efficiencies, 6.26% and 4.37% for rigid and flexible devices, respectively. The adhesion of the surface layer to the metal substrate is so strong that the photovoltaic performance of the devices is well retained even after the CEs are bended for 20 cycles and torn twice with adhesive tape. The results reported here indicate that the in situ growth of highly adhesive surface layers on metal substrate is a promising way to prepare durable CEs for efficient DSCs.
CAS Key Laboratory of Nanosystem and Hierarchical Fabrication, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, Beijing, 100190, P. R. China.|State Key Laboratory of Chemical Resource Engineering, Department of Chemistry, School of Science, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, 100029, P. R. China.
Wantao
W
Liu
CAS Key Laboratory of Nanosystem and Hierarchical Fabrication, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, Beijing, 100190, P. R. China.
Peng
P
Xu
CAS Key Laboratory of Nanosystem and Hierarchical Fabrication, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, Beijing, 100190, P. R. China.
Yanjun
Y
Guo
Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, P. R. China.
Yuan
Y
Lin
CAS Key Laboratory of Nanosystem and Hierarchical Fabrication, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, Beijing, 100190, P. R. China.|State Key Laboratory of Chemical Resource Engineering, Department of Chemistry, School of Science, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, 100029, P. R. China.|State Key Laboratory of Chemo/Biosensing and Chemometrics, Hunan University, Changsha, 410082, P.R. China.
Xiong
X
Yin
State Key Laboratory of Chemical Resource Engineering, Department of Chemistry, School of Science, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, 100029, P. R. China.
Guangshi
G
Tang
CAS Key Laboratory of Nanosystem and Hierarchical Fabrication, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, Beijing, 100190, P. R. China.|School of Physical Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China.
Meng
M
He
Nanoscale Res Lett. 2013 May 14;8(1):227
23672498
ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2013 Sep 11;5(17 ):8423-9
23927540
ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2014 Sep 24;6(18):16249-56
25162375
Adv Mater. 2014 Sep;26(36):6210-37
25080873
Chem Rev. 2010 Nov 10;110(11):6595-663
20831177
Adv Mater. 2011 Oct 25;23(40):4707-10
21905130
Nature. 2001 Nov 15;414(6861):338-44
11713540
Sci Rep. 2015 Mar 23;5:9317
25799125
ACS Nano. 2010 Oct 26;4(10):6203-11
20939517
Chem Commun (Camb). 2012 Aug 21;48(65):8057-9
22499057
Nat Mater. 2002 Sep;1(1):19-25
12618843
ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2012 Nov;4(11):6242-6
23075280
Biomaterials. 2000 Mar;21(5):449-56
10674809
ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2014 Jan 8;6(1):14-7
24341831
J Am Chem Soc. 2009 Nov 11;131(44):15976-7
19845335
Sci Rep. 2014 Nov 10;4:6983
25382139
Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2013 Aug 26;52(35):9210-4
23897636
Chem Commun (Camb). 2009 Nov 28;(44):6720-2
19885457
ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2012 Mar;4(3):1709-15
22324725