Vanadium nitride (VN) peas and cubes
were synthesized by regulating the molar ratio of the starting materials
(urea/VOCl3) via the urea–metal chloride route.
The as-prepared VN compounds were subsequently introduced into dye-sensitized
solar cells (DSCs) as counter electrode (CE) catalysts for the regeneration
of novel organic thiolate/disulfide (T–/T2) and traditional iodide/triiodide (I–/I3
–) redox couples. The cyclic voltammetry (CV),
electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), and Tafel polarization
curve results proved that the catalytic activity of the prepared VN
was significantly affected by particle shape and particle size. The
VN peas showed the highest catalytic activity, followed by the small
VN cubes and large VN cubes. The I–/I3
–-electrolyte-based DSCs yielded a high power conversion
efficiency (PCE) of 7.29%. The Pt-free VN CE catalysts are more suitable
for the new organic redox couples of T–/T2. The DSCs based on VN peas CE showed a PCE of 5.57%, an enhancement of 40.7% relative to the
Pt-CE-based DSCs (3.96%).
The dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) using SnO(2) and Nb(2)O(5) counter electrodes (CEs) prepared in N(2) atmosphere yielded power conversion efficiencies (PCE) of 6.09% and 4.65%, much higher than the PCE values (1.84%, 0.97%) of the DSCs using the same SnO(2) and Nb(2)O(5) CEs prepared in air.
Title : TiC/Pt composite catalyst as counter electrode for long-term stable and high effi ciency dye-sensitized solar cellsLow-cost and high-effi ciency TiC/Pt composite is successfully introduced into large scale dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) as a counter electrode catalyst. The TiC/Pt-based DSC shows ideal results as compared to the Pt-based DSC. This research is important for reducing the cost of DSCs and for the industrialization of DSCs.
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