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Depositing Pt nanoparticles by pulse electrodeposition for DSSCs counter electrode with high electrocatalytic activity

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Abstract

A Pt counter electrode of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) was prepared by a simple and low-cost pulse electrodeposition method. The catalytic activity and the Pt utilization efficiency of Pt films were investigated. In this study, four Pt counter electrodes were prepared by pulse electrodeposition at high current density on FTO substrates. The catalytic activity of the counter electrode and DSSC performance were optimized by varying the pulse electrodepositing cycles. The relationships between Pt nanostructure, electrochemical properties, interfacial charge transfer resistance and photovoltaic performance are investigated in detail. The Pt film prepared by 25 pulse electrodepositing cycles shows well-distributed Pt nanoparticles on the FTO substrate, which provides not only a larger electrochemical active surface area but also lower charge transfer resistance than others. The photovoltaic performance proves that the Pt counter electrode prepared by 25 pulse electrodepositing cycles at 30 mA/cm2 current density achieves the highest energy conversion efficiency of 8.45% among these samples.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the support of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51472154).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory for Microstructures, Shanghai University, 99 Shangda Road, Shanghai, 200444, China

    Hongzhen Liu, Yanyan Lou & Miaomiao Liu

  2. Research Center of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, Shanghai University, 99 Shangda Road, Shanghai, 200444, China

    Shuai Yuan

  3. School of Medical Instrument and Food Engineering, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai, 200093, China

    Hualan Zhou

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  1. Hongzhen Liu
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  2. Yanyan Lou
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Correspondence to Shuai Yuan or Hualan Zhou.

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The authors Hongzhen Liu, Yanyan Lou, Shuai Yuan, Miaomiao Liu, Hualan Zhou declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

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Liu, H., Lou, Y., Yuan, S. et al. Depositing Pt nanoparticles by pulse electrodeposition for DSSCs counter electrode with high electrocatalytic activity. Res Chem Intermed 43, 4881–4892 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11164-017-2918-3

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