NixSy/NiSe2 Hybrid Catalyst Grown In Situ on Conductive Glass Substrate as Efficient Counter Electrode for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells. (1st October 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Liu, Qing-Lin; Dong, Yu-Jie; Cao, Yang; Chen, Hong-Yan; Kuang, Dai-Bin; Su, Cheng-Yong
• Is Part Of: Electrochimica acta. Volume 250(2017)
• Page Start: 244
• Page End: 250
• Publication Date: 2017-10-01
• Subjects: NixSy/NiSe2 -- hybrid structure -- electrocatalytic -- counter electrode -- dye-sensitized solar cells; Electrochemistry -- Periodicals; Electrochemistry, Industrial -- Periodicals; 541.37
• DOI: 10.1016/j.electacta.2017.08.085
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0013-4686

Abstract

Graphical abstract: Highlights: A novel Nix Sy /NiSe2 hybrid nanoparticle film grown on FTO glass is prepared. Integrating sulfur to hybrid structure contributes to tune the catalyst morphology. The synergetic effect of Nix Sy and NiSe2 promotes the electrocatalytic activity. An impressive efficiency of 8.6% is achieved for hybrid catalyst based DSSC. Abstract: Nix Sy /NiSe2 hybrid nanoparticle film grown in situ on F-doped SnO2 (FTO) glass is synthesized by a gentle solvothermal method and used as efficient counter electrode for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The two-step strategy involving sulfuration and subsequent selenization reaction using nickel hydroxide as the precursor can effectively avoid the film cracking and detaching thus to obtain a uniform hybrid nanoparticle film with rich catalytic active sites and good electron transport ability. The electrocatalytic activity of hybrid catalyst compared with single NiSe2 and Nix Sy is investigated in detail by cyclic voltammetry (CV), electrochemical impedance spectra (EIS) and Tafel polarization measurements. Due to the synergistic effect of different components, the hybrid Nix Sy /NiSe2 exhibits higher electrocatalytic performance for I3 − reduction. As a result, the DSSCs with Nix Sy /NiSe2 hybrid electrode shows an impressive higher short circuit photocurrent and power conversion efficiency (8.64%) than that with Nix Sy (7.95%) and NiSe2 (7.47%) counter electrodes, just a little bit inferior to Pt (9.01%), which indicates that this new kind of material can work as a promising alternative low-cost catalyst for DSSCs or other electrocatalytic applications.