Issue 33, 2018

Heteroatom tri-doped porous carbon derived from waste biomass as Pt-free counter electrode in dye-sensitized solar cells

Abstract

Strategies for environmentally friendly reutilization of waste biomass are highly desirable nowadays. Meanwhile, seeking Pt-free electrocatalysts for triiodide reduction with both high catalytic activity and low cost is critical for the development of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs). In the study, heteroatom tri-doped porous carbons (TPCs) were prepared via carbonization of a typical food waste (fish waste) and explored as a counter electrode (CE) in a DSC. The as-prepared carbon materials possessed a porous structure with a large BET surface area of 2933 m2 gāˆ’1, while being simultaneously naturally doped by three heteroatoms (N, P and S). More importantly, the resultant N, P, S-tri-doped porous carbon exhibited outstanding electrochemical activity towards triiodide reduction with good stability. Moreover, the DSC with the optimized TPC electrode showed a power conversion efficiency of 7.83%, which is comparable to the device with a costly Pt-based CE (8.34%), measured under one sun illumination (AM 1.5G). This work demonstrates that carbonization of fish waste offers a cost-effective approach to prepare multifunctional carbon materials for advanced energy applications.

Graphical abstract: Heteroatom tri-doped porous carbon derived from waste biomass as Pt-free counter electrode in dye-sensitized solar cells

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
25 mars 2018
Accepted
14 mai 2018
First published
21 mai 2018
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

RSC Adv., 2018,8, 18427-18433

Heteroatom tri-doped porous carbon derived from waste biomass as Pt-free counter electrode in dye-sensitized solar cells

P. Ma, W. Lu, X. Yan, W. Li, L. Li, Y. Fang, X. Yin, Z. Liu and Y. Lin, RSC Adv., 2018, 8, 18427 DOI: 10.1039/C8RA02575D

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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