We investigated a range of different mesoporous NiO electrodes prepared by different research groups and private firms in Europe to determine the parameters which influence good quality photoelectrochemical devices. This benchmarking study aims to solve some of the discrepancies in the literature regarding the performance of p-DSCs due to differences in the quality of the device fabrication. The information obtained will lay the foundation for future photocatalytic systems based on sensitized NiO so that new dyes and catalysts can be tested with a standardized material. The textural and electrochemical properties of the semiconducting material are key to the performance of photocathodes. We found that both commercial and non-commercial NiO gave promising solar cell and water-splitting devices. The NiO samples which had the two highest solar cell efficiency (0.145% and 0.089%) also gave the best overall theoretical H2 conversion.

Mesoporous nickel oxide has been used as electrode material for p-type dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) for many years but no high efficiency cells have yet been obtained. One of the main issues that lowers the efficiency is the poor fill factor, for which a clear reason is still missing. In this paper we present the first evidence for a relation between applied potential and the charge recombination rate of the NiO electrode. In particular, we find biphasic recombination kinetics: a fast (15 ns) pathway attributed to the reaction with the holes in the valence band and a slow (1 ms) pathway assigned to the holes in the trap states. The fast component is the most relevant at positive potentials, while the slow component becomes more important at negative potentials. This means that at the working condition of the cell, the fast recombination is the most important. This could explain the low fill factor of NiO-based DSCs.

Nickel oxide has been used as the mesoporous electrode material for p-type dye sensitized solar cell (DSSC) for many years, but no high efficiency cells have been obtained yet. The poor results are commonly attributed to the lack of conductivity of the NiO film. In this paper we studied the electrical conduction of NiO mesoporous film with cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). We used unsensitized NiO on FTO as an electrode with no dye adsorbed on the surface. Tests made with a DSSC device-like cell (FTO-Pt-I–/I3 –-NiO-FTO) showed a surprisingly high Faradaic current (20 mA/cm–2 at 1 V), proving a good electrical conductivity of mesoporous NiO. We also used lithium as dopant to improve the electrical properties of the film. The Li-doping resulted in widening the inert (not conductive) window in the CV plot. The EIS analysis clarified that this behavior is due to a strong dependence of the valence band shape and position with respect to the Li-doping concentration. Our results show that DSSC performance does not need to be limited by the conductivity of mesoporous NiO, which encourages more effort in p-type DSSC research based on this material.

Mesoporous NiO is used as p-type material in photoelectrochemical energy conversion devices. The presence of two kinds of hole traps can affect device performance. Here, after band-gap excitation, the relaxation of the hole into two different traps was observed and characterized.

How cations affect the electric double layer and the rates and selectivity of electrocatalytic processes

The most common material for dye-sensitized photocathodes is mesoporous NiO. We transformed the usual brownish NiO to be more transparent by reducing high valence Ni impurities. Two pretreatment methods have been used: chemical reduction by NaBH and thermal reduction by heating. The power conversion efficiency of the cell was increased by 33% through chemical treatment, and an increase in open-circuit voltage from 105 to 225 mV was obtained upon heat treatment. By optical spectroelectrochemistry, we could identify two species with characteristically different spectra assigned to Ni and Ni. We suggest that the reduction of surface Ni and Ni to Ni decreases the recombination reaction between holes on the NiO surface with the electrolyte. It also keeps the dye firmly on the surface, building a barrier for electrolyte recombination. This causes an increase in open-circuit photovoltage for the treated film.

We report on the synthesis and characterization of a donor-acceptor ruthenium polypyridyl complex as a photosensitizer for p-type dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The electrochemical, photophysical, and photovoltaic performance of two ruthenium-based photosensitizers were tested in NiO-based DSSCs; bis-(2,2'-bipyridine-4,4'-dicarboxylic acid)(2)N-(1,10-phenanthroline)-4-nitronaphthalene-1,8-dicarboximide ruthenium(II), ([Ru(dcb)(2)(NMI-phen)](PF(6))(2)) and tris-(2,2'-bipyridine-4,4'-dicarboxylic acid)(3) ruthenium(ii), [(Ru(dcb)(3))Cl(2)]. The presence of an electron-accepting group, 4-nitronaphthalene-1,8-dicarboximide (NMI), attached to the phenanthroline of [Ru(dcb)(2)(NMI-phen)](2+) resulted in long-lived charge separation between reduced [Ru(dcb)(2)(NMI-phen)](2+) and NiO valence band holes; 10-50 μs. In the reduced state for [Ru(dcb)(2)(NMI-phen)](2+), the electron localized on the distal NMI group. In tests with I(3)(-)/I(-) and Co(4,4'-di-tert-butyl-bipyridine)(3)(2+/3+) electrolytes, [Ru(dcb)(2)(NMI-phen)](2+) outperformed [Ru(dcb)(3)](2+) in solar cell efficiency in devices. A record APCE (25%) was achieved for a ruthenium photosensitizer in a p-type DSSC. Insights on photosensitizer regeneration kinetics are included.

Surface states of mesoporous NiO semiconductor films have particular properties differing from the bulk and are able to dramatically influence the interfacial electron transfer and adsorption of chemical species. To achieve a better performance of NiO-based p-type dye-sensitized solar cells (p-DSCs), the function of the surface states has to be understood. In this paper, we applied a modified atomic layer deposition procedure that is able to passivate 72% of the surface states on NiO by depositing a monolayer of Al 2 O 3 . This provides us with representative control samples to study the functions of the surface states on NiO films. A main conclusion is that surface states, rather than the bulk, are mainly responsible for the conductivity in mesoporous NiO films. Furthermore, surface states significantly affect dye regeneration (with I – /I 3 – as redox couple) and hole transport in NiO-based p-DSCs. A new dye regeneration mechanism is proposed in which electrons are transferred from reduced dye molecules to intra-bandgap states, and then to I 3 – species. The intra-bandgap states here act as catalysts to assist I 3 – reduction. A more complete mechanism is suggested to understand the particular hole transport behavior in p-DSCs, in which the hole transport time is independent of light intensity. This is ascribed to the percolation hole hopping on the surface states. When the concentration of surface states was significantly reduced, the light-independent charge transport behavior in pristine NiO-based p-DSCs transformed into having an exponential dependence on light intensity, similar to that observed in TiO 2 -based n-type DSCs. These conclusions on the function of surface states provide new insight into the electronic properties of mesoporous NiO films.