A comprehensive comparison of dye-sensitized NiO photocathodes for solar energy conversion

Christopher J. Wood; Gareth H. Summers; Charlotte A. Clark; Nicolas Kaeffer; Maximilian Braeutigam; Lea Roberta Carbone; Luca D'Amario; Ke Fan; Yoann Farré; Stéphanie Narbey; Frédéric Oswald; Lee A. Stevens; Christopher D. J. Parmenter; Michael W. Fay; Alessandro La Torre; Colin E. Snape; Benjamin Dietzek; Danilo Dini; Leif Hammarström; Yann Pellegrin; Fabrice Odobel; Licheng Sun; Vincent Artero; Elizabeth A. Gibson

doi:10.1039/C5CP05326A

A comprehensive comparison of dye-sensitized NiO photocathodes for solar energy conversion†

Christopher J. Wood,‡^a Gareth H. Summers,‡^a Charlotte A. Clark,^a Nicolas Kaeffer,^b Maximilian Braeutigam,^cd Lea Roberta Carbone,^e Luca D'Amario,^f Ke Fan,^g Yoann Farré,^h Stéphanie Narbey,ⁱ Frédéric Oswald,ⁱ Lee A. Stevens,^j Christopher D. J. Parmenter,^k Michael W. Fay,^k Alessandro La Torre,^k Colin E. Snape,^l Benjamin Dietzek,^cd Danilo Dini,^e Leif Hammarström,^f Yann Pellegrin,^h Fabrice Odobel,^h Licheng Sun,^g Vincent Artero^b and Elizabeth A. Gibson ‡*^a

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* Corresponding authors

^a School of Chemistry, The University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, UK

^b Laboratoire de Chimie et Biologie des Métaux, Université Grenoble Alpes, CEA, CNRS, 17 rue des Martyrs, 38000 Grenoble, France

^c Institute of Photonic Technology (IPHT) Jena e. V., Albert-Einstein-Straße 9, D-07745 Jena, Germany

^d Institute for Physical Chemistry and Abbe Center of Photonics, Friedrich-Schiller University Jena, Helmholtzweg 4, D-07743 Jena, Germany

^e Department of Chemistry, University of Rome “La Sapienza”, Rome, Italy

^f Department of Chemistry-Ångström, Uppsala University, Box 259, SE-751 05 Uppsala, Sweden

^g School of Chemical Science and Engineering, Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), 100 44 Stockholm, Sweden

^h CEISAM, Chimie et Interdisciplinarité, Synthèse, Analyse, Modélisation, CNRS, UMR 6230, Faculté des Sciences et des Techniques Université de Nantes, 2, rue de la Houssinière, BP 92208, 44322 NANTES Cedex 3, France

ⁱ Solaronix, rue de l'Ouriette 129, CH-1170 Aubonne, Switzerland

^j Division of Materials, Mechanics and Structures, Faculty of Engineering, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, UK

^k Nottingham Nanotechnology and Nanoscience Centre, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, UK

^l Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, UK

Abstract

We investigated a range of different mesoporous NiO electrodes prepared by different research groups and private firms in Europe to determine the parameters which influence good quality photoelectrochemical devices. This benchmarking study aims to solve some of the discrepancies in the literature regarding the performance of p-DSCs due to differences in the quality of the device fabrication. The information obtained will lay the foundation for future photocatalytic systems based on sensitized NiO so that new dyes and catalysts can be tested with a standardized material. The textural and electrochemical properties of the semiconducting material are key to the performance of photocathodes. We found that both commercial and non-commercial NiO gave promising solar cell and water-splitting devices. The NiO samples which had the two highest solar cell efficiency (0.145% and 0.089%) also gave the best overall theoretical H₂ conversion.

This article is part of the themed collections: 2016 most accessed PCCP articles and Bunsentagung 2016: Basic Mechanisms in Energy Conversion

Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics

A comprehensive comparison of dye-sensitized NiO photocathodes for solar energy conversion†

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