Electrospun porous Fe ₂ O ₃ nanotubes as counter electrodes for dye‐sensitized solar cells

Abstract

Summary Porous Fe2O3 nanostructures were synthesized through electrospinning of Fe (NO3)3/polyvinylpyrrolidone followed by calcination in air. The morphology of the resultant Fe2O3 was tuned by changing the ratio between Fe (NO3)3 and the polymer matrix. The performance of these nanostructures as counter electrodes in dye‐sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) was investigated. It was found that nanotubes exhibit significantly higher catalytic efficiency toward reducing I−/I3− electrolytes than nanorods and nanobelts, showing a photoelectric conversion efficiency of 4.0%, also superior to a range of transition metal oxides. Furthermore, the nanotube‐based counter electrode showed lower resistance than other Fe2O3 nanostructures. These results were attributed to the high specific surface area (90.2 m2 g−1) of the nanotubes, which provides a large reaction site and can promote the charge transfer at the electrode/electrolyte interfaces. The low cost and ease of mass production make Fe2O3 nanotube a promising candidate to replace Pt as the counter electrode in DSSCs.

NiSFeS/N, S co‐doped carbon hybrid: Synergistic effect between NiS and FeS facilitating electrochemical oxygen evolution reaction

“…Figure 4B shows the Fe XPS spectra of FeS/NSC and Ni60Fe40S/NSC. In FeS/NSC, there are peaks of Fe 2+ 2p 3/2 (710.6 eV) and 2p 1/2 (723.6 eV) in FeS, because Fe 3+ in the reactant is reduced by the carbon species during the annealing process 25,26 . There are peaks of Fe 3+ 2p 3/2 (712.4 eV) and 2p 1/2 (725.7 eV), which is due to Fe 2+ in FeS being oxidized by air.…”

“…In Fe S/NSC, there are peaks of Fe 2+ 2p 3/2 (710.6 eV) and 2p 1/2 (723.6 eV) in FeS, because Fe 3+ in the reactant is reduced by the carbon species during the annealing process. 25,26 There are peaks of Fe 3 + 2p 3/2 (712.4 eV) and 2p 1/2 (725.7 eV), which is due to Fe 2+ in FeS being oxidized by air. The peaks at ~707.5 and ~719.3 eV are assigned to Fe 2+ 2p 3/2 and 2p 1/2 in FeS 2 , respectively, which can be due to partial FeS being transferred into FeS 2 at high temperatures.…”

General Approach to Single and Hybrid Metal Oxide Fiber Structures for High‐Performance Lithium‐Ion Batteries

“…High resolution XPS spectra of Fe 2 O 3 /SnO 2 hybrid at O 1s region displayed in Figure 3d was split into three peaks attributed to C=O, SnÀ O and FeÀ O, which located at about 531.9, 530.5 and 529.9 eV, respectively. [33][34][35] Furthermore, the nitrogen adsorption-desorption measurements for the fibers indicated that the pore sizes located at around 2-15 nm, which were calculated using BET method ( Figure S4).…”

Advances on Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells (DSSCs) Nanostructures and Natural Colorants: A Review

“…To conclude this section, reference [65] presents the use of iron oxide (Fe 2 O 3 ) with several porous nanostructures. These nanostructures were synthesized by Fe (NO 3 ) 3 /polyvinylpyrrolidone electrospinning followed by calcination in air.…”