Journal
NANO ENERGY
Volume 16, Issue -, Pages 163-172Publisher
ELSEVIER
DOI: 10.1016/j.nanoen.2015.06.019
Keywords
Cation exchange reaction; Hierarchical films; Porous nanosheets; Sulfide counterelectrode; Quantum-dot sensitized solar cells
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Funding
- National Research Foundation Singapore [NRF-CRP4-2008-03]
- Singapore-Berkeley Research Initiative for Sustainable Energy (SinBeRISE) CREATE Programme
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Quantum-dot sensitized solar cells (QDSCs), as a promising type of new generation photovoltaic devices, require an efficient and inexpensive counterelectrode (CE) for their commercial application. In this work, novel noble-metal-free Cu-doped CoS (Cu-CoS) CEs are designed for QDSCs. The hierarchical three-dimensional (3D) Cu-CoS porous nanosheet films on fluorine doped tin oxide (FTO) glass are prepared by a simple hydrothermal reaction followed by a cation exchange reaction process. As an alternative to Pt electrode, the 3D structure of porous Cu-CoS nanosheets with high reflectivity can provide a great large number of active catalytic sites and easy accessibility toward S-n(2-) /S2- electrolyte solution, leading to high electrocatalytic activity. Theoretical calculations are further performed to demonstrate the superior catalytic activity for the Cu-CoS CE. As a result, the QDSC with an optimized Cu-CoS CE exhibits a high photovoltaic conversion efficiency of 6.1% under 100 mW cm(-2) irradiation, which is much higher than that of the references Pt and bare CoS CEs. Furthermore, this QDSC device shows long-term stability, which makes it as a very promising and low cost effective material for QDSCs. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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