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Facile synthesis of nitrogen-doped reduced graphene oxide as an efficient counter electrode for dye-sensitized solar cells

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Abstract

A nitrogen-doped reduced graphene oxide (N-RGO) nanosheet was synthesized by a simple hydrothermal method and characterized by X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and scanning electrode microscopy. After being deposited as counter electrode film for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), it is found that the synthesized N-RGO nanosheet has smaller charge-transfer resistance and better electrocatalytic activity towards reduction of triiodide than the reduced graphene oxide (RGO) nanosheet. Consequently, the DSSCs based on the N-RGO counter electrode achieve an energy conversion efficiency of 4.26%, which is higher than that of the RGO counter electrode (2.85%) prepared under the same conditions, and comparable to the value (5.21%) obtained with the Pt counter electrode as a reference. This N-RGO counter electrode offers the advantages of not only saving the cost of Pt itself but also simplifying the process of counter electrode preparation. Therefore, an inexpensive N-RGO nanosheet is a promising counter electrode material to replace noble metal Pt.

A nitrogen-doped reduced graphene oxide nanosheet was synthesized by a simple hydrothermal method, which is a promising counter electrode material to replace noble metal Pt.

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Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant 21571042, 21371040, 61705063, and 21203058), the Science Foundation for Youths of Heilongjiang Province of China (Grant No. QC2016013), the Foundation of Educational Commission of Heilongjiang Province of China (No. 12531579), the Innovative Talents Program of Heilongjiang University of Science and Technology (Q20130202), and the Postdoctoral Foundation of Heilongjiang Province of China (LBH-Z16203).

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  1. College of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Heilongjiang University of Science and Technology, Harbin, 150022, People’s Republic of China

    Liguo Wei, Ruidong Luo, **qi Li, **aohu Gu, Zhaoshun Zhan, Yongli Dong & Weina Song

  2. MIIT Key Laboratory of Critical Materials Technology for New Energy Conversion and Storage, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, 150001, People’s Republic of China

    Liguo Wei, ** Wang, Yulin Yang & Ruiqing Fan

  3. Precious Tyrone New Materials Co., LTD., Qitaihe, 154603, People’s Republic of China

    Liguo Wei

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  1. Liguo Wei
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  2. ** Wang
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  3. Yulin Yang
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Correspondence to Yulin Yang.

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Wei, L., Wang, P., Yang, Y. et al. Facile synthesis of nitrogen-doped reduced graphene oxide as an efficient counter electrode for dye-sensitized solar cells. J Nanopart Res 20, 110 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-018-4203-9

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