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Electrodeposited NiCoO2@CNTs fiber as efficient counter electrode in wire-shaped dye-sensitized solar cells

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Abstract

One-dimensional wire-shaped dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) are promising flexible energy conversion devices for new generation wearable microelectronics. Typically, Pt-based expensive materials are employed as counter electrodes for device fabrication along with photoanode and electrolyte. In this work, a facile electrodeposition approach has been adopted to deposit bimetallic oxide of cobalt and nickel over the surface of carbon nanotube-based fiber and used it as counter electrodes in fiber-shaped DSSCs. Modified Ti wire (TiO2 nanotubes/N719 dye) was used as a photoanode and NiCoO2 modified CNTs fiber twisted around the photoanode operated as a counter electrode in fibrous DSSCs. Electron transfer behavior of iodide/triiodide (I−/I3−) redox couple at counter electrode studied via cyclic voltammetry (CV) which revealed that the modified CNTs fiber electrode performs better as compared to Pt wire and pristine CNTs fiber. The lower value of charge transfer resistance was calculated via EIS (electrochemical impedance spectroscopy), which also suggested a facile reduction of triiodide to iodide at the counter electrode. The outcomes realized that the electrodeposited CoNi-oxide nanoparticles over the CNTs fiber significantly improve the device performance because of the harmonious effect of active sites and inner pathways facilitated by the NiCoO2 nanoparticles and CNTs fiber, respectively. This work recommends a facile method for the fabrication of efficient electrodes for flexible and wearable energy harvesting devices.

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Acknowledgements

Authors are highly thankful to Deanship of Scientific Research at Shaqra University Saudi Arabia and HEC Pakistan for financial support.

Funding

The authors would like to thank the Deanship of Scientific Research at Shaqra University for supporting this work. Authors are also highly thankful to Higher education commission (HEC) Pakistan provided the financial support under the startup research grant # 21-2146/SRGP/R&D/HEC2018. 

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, College of Science, Shaqra University, P.O. Box 5701, Shaqra, 11961, Saudi Arabia

    Haia Aldosari

  2. Department of Chemistry, The University of Lahore, 1-Km Defence Road, Lahore, 54590, Pakistan

    Abid Ali & Sheza Muqaddas

  3. Department of Mechanical, Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Cagliari, via Marengo 2, 09123, Cagliari, CA, Italy

    Rizwan Shoukat

  4. King Abdullah Institute for Nanotechnology, King Saud University, Riyadh, 11451, Saudi Arabia

    Manal A. Awad

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  1. Haia Aldosari
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  2. Abid Ali
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Contributions

HA and AA: Conceptualization and supervise the project. SM and RS: Studied the electrochemical and photovoltaic parameters while MAA support to study the SEM analysis.

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Correspondence to Abid Ali.

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Aldosari, H., Ali, A., Muqaddas, S. et al. Electrodeposited NiCoO2@CNTs fiber as efficient counter electrode in wire-shaped dye-sensitized solar cells. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 34, 1916 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-023-11379-6

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