Solution-processed nanoporous NiO-dye-ZnO photocathodes: Toward efficient and stable solid-state p-type dye-sensitized solar cells and dye-sensitized photoelectrosynthesis cells

A solution-processed NiO-dye-ZnO photocathode was developed for applications in both solid-state p-type dye-sensitized solar cells (p-ssDSCs) and p-type dye-sensitized photoelectrosynthesis cells (p-DSPECs). In p-ssDSCs, the solar cell using ZnO as electron transport material showed a short circuit current, up to 680 mu A cm(-2), which is 60-fold larger than that previously reported device using TiO2 as electron transport material with similar architecture. In the p-DSPECs, a remarkable photocurrent of 100 mu A cm(-2) was achieved in a pH = 5.0 acetate buffer solution under a bias potential at 0.05 V vs RHE with platinum as the proton reduction catalyst. A Faradaic efficiency approaching 100% for the H-2 evolution reaction was obtained after photoelectrolysis for 9 h. Importantly, the solution-processed NiO-dye-ZnO photocathode exhibited excellent long-term stability in both p-ssDSCs and p-DSPECs. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study where a solution-processable, nanoporous NiO-dye-ZnO photocathode is used for both p-ssDSCs and p-DSPECs having both excellent device performance and stability.