Nitrogen-Doped Bagasse-Derived Carbon/ Low Pt Composite as Counter Electrodes for High Efficiency Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell. Issue 4 (2nd February 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Xiang, Changli; Lv, Tao; Okonkwo, Chika A.; Zhang, Meng; Jia, Lishan; Xia, Wensheng
• Is Part Of: Journal of the Electrochemical Society. Volume 164:Issue 4(2017)
• Page Start: H203
• Page End: H210
• Publication Date: 2017-02-02
• Subjects: catalytic activity -- counter electrode -- dye-sensitized solar cells -- low Pt -- N-doped bagasse derived carbon -- Pt nanoparticles size; Electrochemistry -- Periodicals; 541.3705
• DOI: 10.1149/2.0451704jes
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0013-4651

Abstract

Abstract : N-doped bagasse-derived carbon/Pt composite (NBC/Pt) with a very low Pt loading (0.31 wt%) is synthesized by a simple and eco-friendly hydrothermal process with bagasse as the carbon precursor and investigated as the counter electrode (CE) of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The N doping reduces Pt nanoparticles size and facilitates the dispersion of Pt nanoparticles, which promotes the strong interaction between Pt and carbon supports. The electrochemical results show that the structural feature is beneficial to improve charge transfer rate on the interface between Pt nanoparticles and carbon supports, resulting in the enhanced catalytic activity toward I − /I3 − redox couples. Under simulated AM 1.5 G solar illumination at 100 mW cm −2, the DSSCs with the NBC/Pt composite CE exhibit a 6.98% power conversion efficiency (PCE), which is superior to the conventional Pt (PCE = 6.08%) CE. The NBC/Pt composite is an attractive CE material that can use 2.52 x less Pt loading onto each FTO substrate than the conventional Pt CE, which is advantageous over the high cost Pt for the fabrication of DSSCs.