Nitrogen and phosphorus dual-doped graphene as a metal-free high-efficiency electrocatalyst for triiodide reduction. Issue 40 (30th August 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Yu, Chang; Liu, Zhiqiang; Meng, Xiangtong; Lu, Bing; Cui, Dan; Qiu, Jieshan
• Is Part Of: Nanoscale. Volume 8:Issue 40(2016)
• Page Start: 17458
• Page End: 17464
• Publication Date: 2016-08-30
• Subjects: Nanoscience -- Periodicals; Nanotechnology -- Periodicals; 620.505
• DOI: 10.1039/c6nr00839a
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2040-3364

Abstract

Abstract : Nitrogen and phosphorus dual-doped graphene was successfully synthesized via a ball-milling process, exhibiting excellent electrocatalytic activity and stability in DSSCs. Abstract : Alternative high-performance electrocatalysts for triiodide (I3 − ) reduction of low-cost dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) are urgently sought after. To address the concerned issues, we report a facile strategy for engineering the nitrogen and phosphorus dual-doped graphene (NPG) via an efficient ball-milling process, followed by a simple thermal annealing approach utilizing melamine (C3 H6 N6 ) and triphenylphosphine ((C6 H5 )3 P) as the N and P source, respectively. When employed as the counter electrode (CE) in DSSCs, such a metal-free material exhibits excellent electrocatalytic activity towards the I3 − /I − redox reaction. Dual-doping of N and P heteroatoms can markedly enhance the photovoltaic performance of DSSCs by a synergistic effect and a high conversion efficiency of 8.57% is achieved, which is superior to Pt CE, and much higher than that of the single-component N- or P-doped graphene electrodes. In addition, the NPG CE also shows an outstanding electrochemical stability. The present results demonstrate that the NPG as a low-cost and high-efficiency electrocatalyst for reduction of I3 − will be one of the promising CE materials in DSSCs.