1D-2D carbon heterostructure with low Pt loading as a superior cathode electrode for dye-sensitized solar cell

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• 作者：Divya Nechiyil ; S. Ramaprabhu
• 关键词：Graphene nanoribbons ; Carbon nanotube ; Pt nanoparticle ; Solar cell ; Electrocatalytic activity ; Counter electrode ; Efficiency ; Energy conversion
• 刊名：Journal of Nanoparticle Research
• 出版年：2017
• 出版时间：February 2017
• 年：2017
• 卷：19
• 期：2
• 全文大小：
• 刊物类别：Chemistry and Materials Science
• 刊物主题：Nanotechnology; Inorganic Chemistry; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Physical Chemistry; Optics, Lasers, Photonics, Optical Devices;
• 出版者：Springer Netherlands
• ISSN：1572-896X
• 卷排序：19

文摘

Cost-effective counter electrode (CE) with high electrocatalytic performance is very much essential for the wide application of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC). The 1D-2D carbon heterostructure (Pt/GR@CNT) with low platinum (Pt) loading has been synthesized by a facile in situ microwave-assisted polyol-reduction method. The excellent electrocatalytic activity as well as photovoltaic performance was achieved due to the combination of 2D graphene nanoribbons (GR) and 1D multi-walled carbon nanotubes (CNT) with high catalytically active Pt nanoparticles. Microwave-assisted longitudinal unzipping of few outer layers of CNTs along with co-reduction of Pt nanoparticles is an effective method to create electrochemically active defective edge sites, which have a crucial role in enhancing electrochemical performance. Synergistic effect of ultra-fine Pt nanoparticles, partially unzipped graphene nanoribbons and inner core tubes of CNTs modulates the power conversion efficiency of solar cell to 5.57% ± 0.03 as compared with 4.73% ± 0.13 of CNTs. Pt/GR@CNT CE even with low Pt loading of 14 μg cm−2 showcases equivalent performance with that of pure Pt counter electrode.