Yuan Yuan, Wan Caichao
College of Art and Design, Hunan Vocational College of Science and Technology (Hunan Porcelain College), Changsha 410004, China.
College of Materials Science and Engineering, Central South University of Forestry and Technology, Changsha 410004, China.
Nanomaterials (Basel). 2022 Feb 7;12(3):563. doi: 10.3390/nano12030563.
Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), a powerful system to convert solar energy into electrical energy, suffer from the high cost of the Pt counter electrode and photosensitizer. In this study, the dual application of waste grape skin is realized by employing the grape skin and its extract as the carbon source of the carbon-based counter electrode and photosensitizer, respectively. The ultraviolet-visible absorption and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy verify the strong binding between the dye molecules (anthocyanins) in the extract and the TiO nanostructure on the photoanode, contributing to a high open-circuit voltage () value of 0.48 V for the assembled DSSC device. Moreover, the waste grape skin was subjected to pyrolysis and KOH activation and the resultant KOH-activated grape skin-derived carbon (KA-GSDC) possesses a large surface area (620.79 m g) and hierarchical porous structure, leading to a high short circuit current density () value of 1.52 mA cm. Additionally, the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy reveals the efficient electron transfer between the electrocatalyst and the redox couples and the slow recombination of electrolytic cations and the photo-induced electrons in the conduction band of TiO. These merits endow the DSSC with a high photovoltaic efficiency of 0.48%, which is 33% higher than that of a common Pt-based DSSC (0.36%). The efficiency is also competitive, compared with some congeneric DSSCs based on other natural dyes and Pt counter electrode. The result confirms the feasibility of achieving the high-value application of waste grape skin in DSSCs.
染料敏化太阳能电池（DSSCs）是一种将太阳能转化为电能的强大系统，但存在铂对电极和光敏剂成本高昂的问题。在本研究中，通过分别将葡萄皮及其提取物用作碳基对电极的碳源和光敏剂，实现了废弃葡萄皮的双重应用。紫外可见吸收光谱和傅里叶变换红外光谱证实了提取物中的染料分子（花青素）与光阳极上的TiO纳米结构之间有强烈的结合，这使得组装的DSSC器件具有0.48 V的高开路电压（）值。此外，对废弃葡萄皮进行热解和KOH活化，所得的KOH活化葡萄皮衍生碳（KA - GSDC）具有大表面积（620.79 m²/g）和分级多孔结构，导致短路电流密度（）值高达1.52 mA/cm²。此外，电化学阻抗谱揭示了电催化剂与氧化还原对之间的有效电子转移以及TiO导带中电解阳离子与光生电子的缓慢复合。这些优点赋予DSSC 0.48%的高光电转换效率，比普通铂基DSSC（0.36%）高33%。与一些基于其他天然染料和铂对电极的同类DSSC相比，该效率也具有竞争力。结果证实了在DSSCs中实现废弃葡萄皮高价值应用的可行性。
