Proceedings of 6th International Conference on Hybrid and Organic Photovoltaics (HOPV14)
Publication date: 1st March 2014
During the last decade, nanomaterials have emerged as new building blocks[i]for constructing light-energy-harvesting assemblies, for the improvement of the cell efficiency and temporal stability[ii]. Carbonaceous materials feature good catalytic properties, electronic conductivity, corrosion resistance towards iodine, high reactivity, abundance and low cost[iii],[iv]. Currently, counter-electrodes (CEs) for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) consists of Platinum (Pt) layers deposited onto transparent conductive glass (TCO)[v]. However, Pt tends to degrade when in contact with the liquid electrolyte, reducing the overall efficiency of DSSCs[vi] and limiting the life- time of DSSCs. Graphene and Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) match all the key requirements of CE materials, such as high specific surface area (SSA)[vii], high exchange current density and low charge-transfer resistance[viii]. In this study we combine solution processed graphene[ix],[x] and single wall carbon nanotubes (SWNTs)[xi], to prepare CEs for highly efficient DSSCs. SWNTs are exploited as intercalant matrix to avoid graphene flakes restacking. Graphene/SWNTs hybrid films are produced by spin-casting the mixture graphene/SWNTs ink on FTO and glass. DSSCs assembled with graphene/SWNTs CE on FTO has shown external quantum efficiency higher than 60% and a total conversion efficiency (η) of 6.37% outperforming those assembled with graphene (η=4.00%) and SWNTs (η=4.75%), see Fig. 1. Moreover, graphene/SWNTs CE, unlike Pt, can both catalyze the reduction of tri-Iodide and back transfers the electrons arriving from the external circuit to the redox system and thus can simultaneously replace both the Pt catalyst and the conductive glass.
We gratefully acknowledge PON – Industria 2007-2013: Progetto FotoRiduCO2 (prot. PON01_02257), ENERGETIC (prot. PON02_00355_3391233) and TESEO (prot. PON02_00153_2939517). Furthermore this research was supported by “EFOR” CNR Project and by Project “SAGRO” financed by Regione Siciliana (Assessorato Regionale Attività Produttive progetti PO-FESR 2007/2013 linea d’intervento 4.1.1.1).
Fig. 1: a) Solution processing. b) Schematic representation of DSSC with graphene CE. c) I/V curves for DSSCs assembled with graphene and graphene/SWNTs hybrid CE using N719 as sensitizer.
[i]F. Bonaccorso, P.H. Tan, and A. C. Ferrari, ACS Nano, 2013, 7, 1836. [ii]N. Robertson, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2006, 45, 2338. [iii]H. S. Wroblowa, A. Sunders, Electroanal. Chem. Interf. Electrochem., 1973, 42, 329 () [iv]P. Calandra et al. Int. J. Photoenergy 2010, 2010, Article ID 109495 [v]G. Calogero et al., Energy Environ. Sci. 2011, 4, 1838−1844 [vi][B. K. Koo, et al., J. Electroceram. 2006, 17, 79.] [vii]M. D. Stoller et al., Nano Lett. 2008, 8, 3498 [viii]G. Calogero, et al. Dalton Trans. 2010, 39, 2903 [ix]J. Hernandez, et al., Nature Nanotech.2008, 3, 563, [x]F. Bonaccorso et al., Mater. Today, 2012, 15, 564. [xi]F. Bonaccorso, Int. J. Photoenergy, 2010, 2010, Article ID 727134
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