Wang Guiqiang, Hou Shuo, Yan Chao, Zhang Wei
School of New Energy, Bohai University Jinzhou 121013 China
RSC Adv. 2018 Jan 3;8(2):1083-1088. doi: 10.1039/c7ra11279c. eCollection 2018 Jan 2.
A three-dimensional (3D) porous architecture combining porous vanadium nitride nanoribbons with reduced graphene oxide was prepared through a hydrothermal process and subsequent thermal annealing in an ammonia/argon mixed atmosphere. Then, the obtained 3D porous vanadium nitride nanoribbon/reduced graphene oxide (PVNN/RGO) composite was explored as the counter electrode of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs). As evidenced by the electrochemical measurements, the 3D PVNN/RGO composite demonstrates excellent electrocatalytic performance, which is comparable to that of Pt. This can be attributed to the fact that the 3D architecture composite of porous vanadium nitride and reduced graphene oxide can simultaneously provide a favorable electrolyte diffusion channel, a fast electron-transport network, and an abundance of efficient electrocatalytic active sites. By employing such PVNN/RGO composite as the counter electrode, the fabricated DSC can achieve a conversion efficiency of 7.43%, which is comparable to that of the conventional Pt counter electrode (7.74%). Therefore, the 3D PVNN/RGO composite is a promising low-cost alternative to the expensive Pt as a counter electrode in DSCs.
通过水热法并随后在氨/氩混合气氛中进行热退火，制备了一种将多孔氮化钒纳米带与还原氧化石墨烯相结合的三维（3D）多孔结构。然后，将所得的三维多孔氮化钒纳米带/还原氧化石墨烯（PVNN/RGO）复合材料用作染料敏化太阳能电池（DSC）的对电极。电化学测量结果表明，三维PVNN/RGO复合材料表现出优异的电催化性能，与铂相当。这可归因于多孔氮化钒和还原氧化石墨烯的三维结构复合材料能够同时提供良好的电解质扩散通道、快速的电子传输网络以及丰富的高效电催化活性位点。通过使用这种PVNN/RGO复合材料作为对电极，制备的DSC可实现7.43%的转换效率，与传统铂对电极（7.74%）相当。因此，三维PVNN/RGO复合材料作为DSC中对电极是一种有前景的低成本替代昂贵铂的材料。
