Luo Xiuting, Zhang Yaojia, Kim Soo Hyung
Department of Nanofusion Technology, Pusan National University, 30 Jangjeon-dong, Geumjung-gu, Busan, 609-735, Republic of Korea.
Department of Nano Energy Engineering, Pusan National University, 30 Jangjeon-dong, Geumjung-gu, Busan, 609-735, Republic of Korea.
Nanoscale Res Lett. 2018 Sep 10;13(1):274. doi: 10.1186/s11671-018-2692-1.
Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) composed of nanostructured carbon composite materials-stacked counter electrodes (CEs) were fabricated in the present study. As the potential replacement of expensive platinum (Pt) thin film, various carbon composite materials, including zero-dimensional carbon nanoparticles (CNPs), one-dimensional multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), and two-dimensional graphene flakes (GFs) as a suitable charge transfer medium were deposited on the surface of CEs using a screen printing process. As the results, CNPs were found to result in deteriorating the charge transfer from CE to liquid electrolyte due to the formation of highly aggregated structures with very low specific surface area. However, MWCNTs and MWCNTs-added carbon composites (e.g., CNP/MWCNT, MWCNT/GF, CNP/MWCNT/GF) were found to enhance the charge transfer from CE to liquid electrolyte due to the formation of highly networked structures with high specific surface area. The resulting PCE of DSSCs composed of pure MWCNTs- and MWCNTs-added carbon composites-based CEs were very similar with that of DSSCs composed of Pt-based CEs. This suggests that the nanostructured carbon materials especially composed of MWCNTs and their composites are one of the promising candidates to replace the expensive Pt in the CEs of DSSCs.
在本研究中制备了由纳米结构碳复合材料堆叠对电极（CEs）组成的染料敏化太阳能电池（DSSC）。作为昂贵铂（Pt）薄膜的潜在替代品，使用丝网印刷工艺将包括零维碳纳米颗粒（CNP）、一维多壁碳纳米管（MWCNT）和二维石墨烯薄片（GF）等各种碳复合材料作为合适的电荷转移介质沉积在CEs表面。结果发现，由于形成了比表面积非常低的高度聚集结构，CNP导致从CE到液体电解质的电荷转移恶化。然而，发现MWCNT和添加MWCNT的碳复合材料（例如，CNP/MWCNT、MWCNT/GF、CNP/MWCNT/GF）由于形成了具有高比表面积的高度网络化结构，从而增强了从CE到液体电解质的电荷转移。由纯MWCNT和添加MWCNT的碳复合材料基CEs组成的DSSC的所得光电转换效率（PCE）与由Pt基CEs组成的DSSC非常相似。这表明，特别是由MWCNT及其复合材料组成的纳米结构碳材料是替代DSSC的CEs中昂贵Pt的有前途的候选材料之一。
