3D graphene from CO2 and K as an excellent counter electrode for dye‐sensitized solar cells. (19th July 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Wei, Wei; Stacchiola, Dario J.; Hu, Yun Hang
• Is Part Of: International journal of energy research. Volume 41:Number 15(2017)
• Page Start: 2502
• Page End: 2508
• Publication Date: 2017-07-19
• Subjects: counter electrode -- dye‐sensitized solar cells -- graphene -- nanomaterial; Power resources -- Periodicals; Power (Mechanics) -- Periodicals; Power resources -- Research -- Periodicals; 621.042
• DOI: 10.1002/er.3815
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0363-907X

Abstract

Summary: 3D graphene, which was synthesized directly from CO2 via its exothermic reaction with liquid K, exhibited excellent performance as a counter electrode for a dye‐sensitized solar cell (DSSC). The DSSC has achieved a high power conversion efficiency of 8.25%, which is 10 times larger than that (0.74%) of a DSSC with a counter electrode of the regular graphene synthesized via chemical exfoliation of graphite. The efficiency is even higher than that (7.73%) of a dye‐sensitized solar cell with an expensive standard Pt counter electrode. This work provides a novel approach to utilize a greenhouse gas for DSSCs. Abstract : 3D graphene was successfully synthesized directly from CO2 greenhouse gas. Dye‐sensitized solar cells with 3D graphene counter electrode exhibited 10 times larger efficiency than that with regular graphene. This efficiency is even better than that of Pt‐based dye‐sensitized solar cell.