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Nitrogen-doped porous carbon with parallel macropore channels derived from Luffa sponge as counter electrode of high-performance dye-sensitized solar cells

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Abstract

Nitrogen-doped porous carbon with parallel macropore channels is prepared from Luffa sponge through a facile one-step carbonization process. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurement indicates that nitrogen is doped into the carbonized product of Luffa sponge. The pore structure and morphology characterizations demonstrate that the obtained Luffa sponge-based nitrogen-doped porous carbon (LSNPC) has a high surface area and unique hierarchical porous architecture containing parallel macropore channels and mesopores/micropores developed on the macropore channel wall. The as-prepared LSNPC is employed to fabricate the counter electrode for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs). The combination of nitrogen doping, unique hierarchical porous architecture, and high surface area endows LSNPC counter electrode with superior electrocatalytic activity for the I−/I3− redox reaction. Consequently, the DSC based on LSNPC counter electrode delivers a power conversion efficiency of 6.92%, which is comparable to the efficiency of the cell based on the conventional Pt counter electrode.

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Data Availability

The authors declare that all data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article.

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  1. Department of Architecture, Shandong University of Technology, 255049, Zibo, China

    Xiuhua Fu & Dongxu Wang

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  1. Xiuhua Fu
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  2. Dongxu Wang
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All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by XF. The first draft of the manuscript was written by DW and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Xiuhua Fu.

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Fu, X., Wang, D. Nitrogen-doped porous carbon with parallel macropore channels derived from Luffa sponge as counter electrode of high-performance dye-sensitized solar cells. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 33, 5224–5232 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-022-07711-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-022-07711-1

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