TY - JOUR
T1 - Transition metal – Graphene oxide nanohybrid materials as counter electrodes for high efficiency quantum dot solar cells
AU - Givalou, Lida
AU - Tsichlis, Dimitrios
AU - Zhang, Fu
AU - Karagianni, Chaido Stefania
AU - Terrones, Mauricio
AU - Kordatos, Konstantinos
AU - Falaras, Polycarpos
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors acknowledge financial support from FP7 European Union (Marie Curie Initial Training Network DESTINY/316494). This research has also been co-financed by the European Union (European Social Fund - ESF) and national funds through the Operational Program "Education and Lifelong Learning" of the National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF) - Research Funded Project: EXCELLENCE-AdMatDSC/1847. F.Z. and M.T. acknowledge the National Science Foundation through the I/UCRC Center for Atomically Thin Multifunctional Coatings (ATOMIC), grant No. IIP-1540018 . A scholarship (L. Givalou) from Special Account for Research (EPP) of the NTUA and helpful assistance from Prof. A.G. Kontos, Dr. M. Antoniadou, D. Perganti, Dr. A. Ntziouni and Dr. M. Arfanis are also acknowledged.
Funding Information:
The authors acknowledge financial support from FP7 European Union (Marie Curie Initial Training Network DESTINY/316494). This research has also been co-financed by the European Union (European Social Fund - ESF) and national funds through the Operational Program ?Education and Lifelong Learning? of the National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF) - Research Funded Project: EXCELLENCE-AdMatDSC/1847. F.Z. and M.T. acknowledge the National Science Foundation through the I/UCRC Center for Atomically Thin Multifunctional Coatings (ATOMIC), grant No. IIP-1540018. A scholarship (L. Givalou) from Special Account for Research (EPP) of the NTUA and helpful assistance from Prof. A.G. Kontos, Dr. M. Antoniadou, D. Perganti, Dr. A. Ntziouni and Dr. M. Arfanis are also acknowledged.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2020/9/15
Y1 - 2020/9/15
N2 - We report the synthesis of new nanocomposite hybrids, based on graphene oxide (GO) incorporating Cu and Co transition metals. GO was produced through graphite oxidation using powerful oxidizing reagents and consecutively was functionalized with the use of CTAB and PSS surfactants. The resulting materials were further decorated with Cu and/or Co using an electrostatic self-assembly process through solvothermal treatment with the corresponding metal chlorides in an autoclave. The influence of metal precursor concentration in the final material characteristics was examined, using mass ratios of 1/4.5 and 1/9 for GO/Cu and GO/Co, and 1/4.5, 1/9 and 1/18 for the bimetallic GO/(Cu-Co) nanohybrid materials, respectively. The produced nanohybrid materials (GO/Cu, GO/Co and GO/(Cu-Co)) were characterized morphologically, structurally and electrochemically and consequently, they were incorporated in quantum dot sensitized solar cells (QDSCs). The novel hybrid materials work effectively as counter electrodes (CE) in CdS-ZnS/CdSe-based QDSCs presenting high photocurrent density (Jsc) and open-circuit voltage (Voc) values leading to enhanced photovoltaic performance. Optimization of the electrocatalytic activity as a function of the GO/(Cu-Co) mass ratio results in cells with a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 8.73%.
AB - We report the synthesis of new nanocomposite hybrids, based on graphene oxide (GO) incorporating Cu and Co transition metals. GO was produced through graphite oxidation using powerful oxidizing reagents and consecutively was functionalized with the use of CTAB and PSS surfactants. The resulting materials were further decorated with Cu and/or Co using an electrostatic self-assembly process through solvothermal treatment with the corresponding metal chlorides in an autoclave. The influence of metal precursor concentration in the final material characteristics was examined, using mass ratios of 1/4.5 and 1/9 for GO/Cu and GO/Co, and 1/4.5, 1/9 and 1/18 for the bimetallic GO/(Cu-Co) nanohybrid materials, respectively. The produced nanohybrid materials (GO/Cu, GO/Co and GO/(Cu-Co)) were characterized morphologically, structurally and electrochemically and consequently, they were incorporated in quantum dot sensitized solar cells (QDSCs). The novel hybrid materials work effectively as counter electrodes (CE) in CdS-ZnS/CdSe-based QDSCs presenting high photocurrent density (Jsc) and open-circuit voltage (Voc) values leading to enhanced photovoltaic performance. Optimization of the electrocatalytic activity as a function of the GO/(Cu-Co) mass ratio results in cells with a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 8.73%.
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UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85063101473&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.cattod.2019.03.035
DO - 10.1016/j.cattod.2019.03.035
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85063101473
SN - 0920-5861
VL - 355
SP - 860
EP - 869
JO - Catalysis Today
JF - Catalysis Today
ER -
