Abstract
Transition-metal (VIB) carbides (TMCs) and oxides (TMOs) were prepared by a simple acetamide–metal route for use as counter electrodes (CEs) in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Acetamide served as the source of carbon and oxygen because it is cost-effective and a good chelating agent, as well as it does not pollute the environment. The carbides and oxides thus prepared were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and nitrogen sorption. These catalysts comprising Cr3C2, Cr2O3, WC, WO2, Mo2C, and MoO2 exhibited satisfactory catalytic activities for the reduction of I3 − to I− in DSSCs, as evidenced by the results obtained from cyclic voltammetry, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, and Tafel polarization measurements. WC exhibited the best catalytic activity with the maximum photoelectric conversion efficiency. A power conversion efficiency (PCE) of up to 4.83% was obtained for the device using WC as the CE, among other materials, while those of 3.24% (Mo2C), 4.44% (Cr3C2), 4.67% (WO2), 2.73% (Cr2O3), and 2.53% (MoO2) were obtained for other DSSCs.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Gratzel BORM (1991) A low-cost high-efficiency solar cell based on dey-sensitized colloidal TiO2 films. Nature 353:737–739
Hagfeldt A, Boschloo G, Sun L, Kloo L, Pettersson H (2010) Dye-sensitized solar cells. Int J Mol Sci 11:1103–1113
Wang Y, Wu M, Lin X, Hagfeldt A, Ma T (2012) Optimization of the performance of dye-sensitized solar cells based on Pt-like TiC counter electrodes. Eur J Inorg Chem 2012:3557–3561
Shahzad N, Risplendi F, Pugliese D, Bianco S, Sacco A, Lamberti A (2013) Comparison of hemi-squaraine sensitized TiO2and ZnO Photoanodes for DSSC applications. J Phys Chem C 117:22778–22783
Yang P, Zhao Z, Zhu L, Tang Q (2015) Counter electrodes from Mo–Se nanosheet alloys for bifacial dye-sensitized solar cells. J Alloy Compd 648:930–936
Rahman MYA, Roza L, Umar AA, Salleh MM (2015) Effect of boric acid composition on the properties of ZnO thin film nanotubes and the performance of dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC). J Alloy Compd 648:86–91
Olsen E, Hagen G, Lindquist SE (2000) Dissolution of platinum in methoxy propionitrile containing LiI/I2. Sol Energ Mat Sol C 63:267–273
Wu M, Wang Y, Lin X, Guo W, Wu K, Lin YN (2013) TiC/Pt composite catalyst as counter electrode for dye-sensitized solar cells with long-term stability and high efficiency. J Mater Chem A 1:9672–9679
Imoto K, Takahashi K, Yamaguchi T, Komura T, Nakamura J-i, Murata K (2003) High-performance carbon counter electrode for dye-sensitized solar cells. Sol Energ Mat Sol C 79:459–469
Huang Z, Liu X, Li K, Li D, Luo Y, Li H (2007) Application of carbon materials as counter electrodes of dye-sensitized solar cells. Electrochem Commun 9:596–598
Sirimanne PM, Winther-Jensen B, Weerasinghe HC, Cheng Y-B (2010) Towards an all-polymer cathode for dye sensitized photovoltaic cells. Thin Solid Films 518:2871–2875
Li Q, Wu J, Tang Q, Lan Z, Li P, Lin J (2008) Application of microporous polyaniline counter electrode for dye-sensitized solar cells. Electrochem Commun 10:1299–1302
Saito Y, Kubo W, Kitamura T, Wada Y, Yanagida S (2004) I−/I3 − redox reaction behavior on poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) counter electrode in dye-sensitized solar cells. J Photoch Photobio A 164:153–157
Jia J, Wu J, Tu Y, Huo J, Zheng M, Lin J (2015) Transparent nickel selenide used as counter electrode in high efficient dye-sensitized solar cells. J Alloy Compd 640:29–33
Rashad MM, Shalan AE (2013) Hydrothermal synthesis of hierarchical WO3 nanostructures for dye-sensitized solar cells. Appl Phys A Mater Sci Process 116:781–788
Uppachai P, Harnchana V, Pimanpang S, Amornkitbamrung V, Brown AP, Brydson RMD (2014) A substoichiometric tungsten oxide catalyst provides a sustainable and efficient counter electrode for dye-sensitized solar cells. Electrochim Acta 145:27–33
Kovendhan M, Paul Joseph D, Manimuthu P, Sendilkumar A, Karthick SN, Sambasivam S (2015) Prototype electrochromic device and dye sensitized solar cell using spray deposited undoped and ‘Li’ doped V2O5 thin film electrodes. Curr Appl Phys 15:622–631
Jin EM, Park JY, Gu HB, Jeong SM (2015) Synthesis of SnO2 hollow fiber using kapok biotemplate for application in dye-sensitized solar cells. Mater Lett 159:321–324
Wu M, Guo H, Lin Y, Wu K, Ma T, Hagfeldt A (2014) Synthesis of highly effective vanadium nitride (VN) peas as a counter electrode catalyst in dye-sensitized solar cells. J Phys Chem C 118:12625–12631
Jiang QW, Li GR, Gao XP (2009) Highly ordered TiN nanotube arrays as counter electrodes for dye-sensitized solar cells. Chem Commun (44):6720–6722. doi:10.1039/b912776c
Jiang QW, Li GR, Liu S, Gao XP (2010) Surface-nitrided nickel with bifunctional structure as low-cost counter electrode for dye-sensitized solar cells. J Phys Chem C 114:13397–13401
Wu M, Lin X, Hagfeldt A, Ma T (2011) Low-cost molybdenum carbide and tungsten carbide counter electrodes for dye-sensitized solar cells. Angew Chem 50:3520–3524
Wu M, Lin YN, Guo H, Wu K, Lin X (2014) Highly efficient Mo2C nanotubes as a counter electrode catalyst for organic redox shuttles in dye-sensitized solar cells. Chem Commun 50:7625–7627
Sun L, Lu L, Bai Y, Sun K (2016) Three-dimensional porous reduced graphene oxide/sphere-like CoS hierarchical architecture composite as efficient counter electrodes for dye-sensitized solar cells. J Alloy Compd 654:196–201
Wang M, Anghel AM, Marsan B, Cevey Ha NL, Pootrakulchote N, Shaik M, Zakeeruddin, Gratzel M (2009) CoS supersedes Pt as efficient electrocatalyst for triiodide reduction in dye-sensitized solar cells. J Am Chem Soc 131:15976–15977
Li S, Chen Z, Zhang W (2012) Dye-sensitized solar cells based on WS2 counter electrodes. Mater Lett 72:22–24
Kung CW, Chen HW, Lin CY, Huang KC, Vittal R, Ho KC (2012) CoS acicular nanorod arrays for the counter electrode of an efficient dye-sensitized solar cell. ACS Nano 6:7016–7025
Kilic B, Turkdogan S, Ozer OC, Asgin M, Bayrakli O, Surucu G (2016) Produce of graphene/iron pyrite (FeS2) thin films counter electrode for dye-sensitized solar cell. Mater Lett 185:584–587
Chen S, Xu A, Tao J, Tao H, Shen Y, Zhu L (2015) Produce of graphene/iron pyrite (FeS2) thin films counter electrode for dye-sensitized solar cell. ACS Sustain Chem Eng 3:2652–2659
Wu M, Lin X, Wang Y, Wang L, Guo W, Qi D (2012) Economical Pt-free catalysts for counter electrodes of dye-sensitized solar cells. J Am Chem Soc 134:3419–3428
Huo J, Wu J, Zheng M, Tu Y, Lan Z (2016) Flower-like nickel cobalt sulfide microspheres modified with nickel sulfide as Pt-free counter electrode for dye-sensitized solar cells. J Power Sources 304:266–272
Cheng CK, Lin CH, Wu HC, Ma CC, Yeh TK, Chou HY, Tsai CH, Hsieh CK (2016) The two-dimensional nanocomposite of molybdenum disulfide and nitrogen-doped graphene oxide for efficient counter electrode of dye-sensitized solar cells. Nanoscale Lett 11:117–125
Wang M, Chen P, Humphry BR (2009) The influence of charge transport and recombination on the performance of dye-sensitized solar cells. Chem Phys Chem 10:290–299
Wang M, Gratzel C, Moon SJ (2009) Surface design in solid-state dye sensitized solar cells: effects of zwitterionic co-adsorbents on photovoltaic performance. Adv Funct Mater 19:2163–2172
Hadis D, Alireza NE (2017) Comprehensive study on enhanced photocatalytic activity of heterojunction ZnS-NiS/zeolite nanoparticles: experimental design based on response surface methodology (RSM), impedance spectroscopy and GC-MASS studies. J Colloid Interf Sci 490:652–664
Magdic K, Kvastek K, Horvat-Radoševi V (2015) Impedance approach to activity of hydrogen evolution reaction on spatially heterogeneous GC electrode surfaces: metal free vs. Ru catalysed case. Electrochim Acta 167:455–469
Lai YQ, Li Y, Jiang LX, Xu W, Lv XJ, Li J, Liu YX (2012) Electrochemical behaviors of co-deposited Pb/Pb–MnO2 composite anode in sulfuric acid solution—Tafel and EIS investigations. J Electroanal Chem 671:16–23
Acknowledgements
This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 21303039, 21473048) and the Natural Science Foundation of Hebei Province (No. B2016205161, B2015205163). The project is supported by Science Foundation of Hebei Normal University (L2016J02), the Second Batch of Young Talent of Hebei Province, and Support Program for Hundred Excellent Innovation Talents from the Universities of Hebei Province (BR2-220) and 2015 Hebei Province Undergraduate Training Programs for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Wu, K., Wang, Y., Cui, W. et al. Synthesis of transition-metal (VIB)-compound catalysts as counter electrodes in dye-sensitized solar cells. Ionics 24, 883–890 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11581-017-2229-0
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11581-017-2229-0