The Future of Using Earth‐Abundant Elements in Counter Electrodes for Dye‐Sensitized Solar Cells

Abstract

With limited global resources for many of the elements that are found in some of the most common renewable energy technologies, there is a growing need to use "Earth-abundant" elements as a long-term solution to growing energy demands. The dye-sensitized solar cell has the potential to produce low-cost renewable energy, with inexpensive production and most components using Earth-abundant elements. However, the most commonly used material for the cell counter electrode (CE) is platinum, an extremely expensive and rare element. A selection of the materials investigated as alternative CEs are discussed, including metal sulfides, oxides, carbides, and nitrides and carbon-based materials such as carbon nanotubes, graphene, and conductive polymers. As well as having the potential for lower cost, these materials can also produce more-efficient devices due to their high surface area and catalytic activity. Therefore, once issues such as stability have been studied in more detail and scale-up of production methods are considered, there is a very promising future for the replacement of Pt in DSSCs with lower-cost, Earth-abundant alternatives.

Sulfur‐Doped Graphene with Iron Pyrite (FeS2) as an Efficient and Stable Electrocatalyst for the Iodine Reduction Reaction in Dye‐Sensitized Solar Cells

“…Over the past two decades, the development of alternative electrocatalysts that are low‐cost and can exhibit higher or comparable performance to the conventional Pt has been the subject of intense research . The ideal CE materials for DSSCs should possess not only high electrical conductivity, but also excellent catalytic activity and stability .…”

A Facile Synthesis of Ternary Nickel Iron Sulfide Nanospheres as Counter Electrode in Dye‐Sensitized Solar Cells

“…The most commonly used CE material in DSSCs is platinum (Pt), deposited on conductive glass by sputtering or pyrolysis methods, due to its high electrical conductivity and superior electrocatalytic activity . Unfortunately, the scarcity and high production cost of Pt severely limits its mass application . Additionally, the iodine‐based electrolyte can easily corrode Pt to H 2 PtI 6 and PtI 4 , which would inevitably worsen the stability of DSSCs .…”

Solution‐Based in–situ Synthesis of Transition Metal Sulfides as Efficient Counter Electrodes for Dye‐Sensitized Solar Cells

“…Generally, noble Pt deposited on fluorine doped tin oxide glass (Pt/FTO) is widely employed as CE owing to its superior electrocatalytic behavior toward I 3 − species, rapid electron transfer ability, and good chemical stability . However, Pt is rare and expensive, which restricts the extensive commercial application of DSSCs …”