Tapa Arnauld Robert, Xiang Wanchun, Wu Senwei, Li Bin, Liu Qiufen, Zhang Mingfeng, Ghadamyari Marzieh, Verpoort Francis, Wang Jichao, Trokourey Albert, Zhao Xiujian
State Key Laboratory of Silicate Materials for Architecture, Wuhan University of Technology, Luoshi Road, Wuhan 430070, China.
Laboratory of Constitution and Reaction of Matter, Training and Research Unit for Structural Sciences of Matter and Technology, Félix Houphouët-Boigny University of Cocody-Abidjan, Abidjan 22 BP 582, Côte d'Ivoire.
Nanomaterials (Basel). 2022 Mar 14;12(6):961. doi: 10.3390/nano12060961.
For large-scale applications, dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) require the replacement of the scarce platinum (Pt)-based counter electrode (CE) with efficient and cheap alternatives. In this respect, low-cost perovskite oxides (ABO) have been introduced as promising additives to composite-based CEs in Pt-free DSSCs. Herein, we synthesized composites from LaCeNiO (L) perovskite oxide and functionalized-multiwall-carbon-nanotubes wrapped in selenides derived from metal-organic-frameworks (f-MWCNT-ZnSe-CoSe, "F"). L and F were then mixed with carbon black (CB) in different mass ratios to prepare L@CB, F@CB, and L@F@CB composites. The electrochemical analysis revealed that the L@F@CB composite with a mass ratio of 1.5:3:1.5 exhibits better electrocatalytic activity than Pt. In addition, the related DSSC reached a better PCE of 7.49% compared to its Pt-based counterpart (7.09%). This improved performance is the result of the increase in the oxygen vacancy by L due to the replacement of La with Ce in its structure, leading to more active sites in the L@F@CB composites. Moreover, the F@CB composite favors the contribution to the high electrical conductivity of the hybrid carbon nanotube-carbon black, which also offers good stability to the L@F@CB CE by not showing any obvious change in morphology and peak-to-peak separation even after 100 cyclic voltammetry cycles. Consequently, the corresponding L@F@CB-based device achieved enhanced stability. Our work demonstrates that L@F@CB composites with a low cost are excellent alternatives to Pt CE in DSSCs.
对于大规模应用，染料敏化太阳能电池（DSSC）需要用高效且廉价的替代品来取代稀缺的基于铂（Pt）的对电极（CE）。在这方面，低成本的钙钛矿氧化物（ABO）已被引入作为无铂DSSC中基于复合材料的对电极的有前景的添加剂。在此，我们由镧铈镍氧化物（L）钙钛矿氧化物与包裹在源自金属有机框架的硒化物中的功能化多壁碳纳米管（f-MWCNT-ZnSe-CoSe，“F”）合成了复合材料。然后将L和F与炭黑（CB）以不同质量比混合，制备L@CB、F@CB和L@F@CB复合材料。电化学分析表明，质量比为1.5:3:1.5的L@F@CB复合材料表现出比Pt更好的电催化活性。此外，与之相关的DSSC相比基于Pt的对应物（7.09%）达到了更好的7.49%的光电转换效率（PCE）。这种性能的提升是由于L在其结构中用Ce取代La导致氧空位增加的结果，从而在L@F@CB复合材料中产生了更多的活性位点。此外，F@CB复合材料有利于对混合碳纳米管 - 炭黑的高电导率做出贡献，即使在100次循环伏安法循环后，其形态和峰 - 峰间距也没有任何明显变化，这也为L@F@CB对电极提供了良好稳定性。因此，相应的基于L@F@CB的器件实现了增强的稳定性。我们的工作表明，低成本的L@F@CB复合材料是DSSC中Pt对电极的优异替代品。
