Dye-sensitized solar cells with NiS counter electrodes electrodeposited by a potential reversal technique

Nickel sulfides have been, for the first time, electrodeposited on transparent conductive glass by a facile periodic potential reversal (PR) technique to supersede Pt counter electrodes (CEs) of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs). The composition and electrochemical catalytic activity of the nickel sulfide films prepared by PR technique are different from those of the ones deposited by the commonly used potentiostatic (PS) technique. PR technique produces transparent single-component NiS, while co-deposition of Ni and NiS is found in the opaque films prepared by PS method. The nickel sulfide deposited by PR technique shows high catalytic activity for the reduction of I3− to I− in a DSC. DSC with the CE deposited by PR technique performs much better (6.82%) than that by PS method (3.22%), and is comparable to the device with conventional Pt coated CE (7.00%).

[1]  A. J. Frank,et al.  Electrons in nanostructured TiO2 solar cells: Transport, recombination and photovoltaic properties , 2004 .

[2]  Yanhong Luo,et al.  Application of carbon materials as counter electrodes of dye-sensitized solar cells , 2007 .

[3]  Jaesung Song,et al.  Efficient dye-sensitized solar cells with catalytic multiwall carbon nanotube counter electrodes. , 2009, ACS applied materials & interfaces.

[4]  I. Paseka,et al.  Properties of Ni−Sx electrodes for hydrogen evolution from alkaline medium , 1990 .

[5]  S. Ramakrishna,et al.  An Efficient Organic‐Dye‐Sensitized Solar Cell with in situ Polymerized Poly(3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene) as a Hole‐Transporting Material , 2010, Advanced materials.

[6]  Yanhong Luo,et al.  Low temperature fabrication of efficient porous carbon counter electrode for dye-sensitized solar cells , 2009 .

[7]  Sang-Cheol Han,et al.  Nickel sulfide synthesized by ball milling as an attractive cathode material for rechargeable lithium batteries , 2003 .

[8]  M. Grätzel,et al.  CoS supersedes Pt as efficient electrocatalyst for triiodide reduction in dye-sensitized solar cells. , 2009, Journal of the American Chemical Society.

[9]  Qing Wang,et al.  Highly Efficient Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells Based on Carbon Black Counter Electrodes , 2006 .

[10]  Michael Grätzel,et al.  Low cost photovoltaic modules based on dye sensitized nanocrystalline titanium dioxide and carbon powder , 1996 .

[11]  Yanhong Luo,et al.  A flexible carbon counter electrode for dye-sensitized solar cells , 2009 .

[12]  R. Woods,et al.  Electrochemical and XPS studies of the surface oxidation of synthetic heazlewoodite (Ni3S2) , 1991 .

[13]  Zhang Lan,et al.  Application of microporous polyaniline counter electrode for dye-sensitized solar cells , 2008 .

[14]  Michael Grätzel,et al.  Influence of 4-guanidinobutyric acid as coadsorbent in reducing recombination in dye-sensitized solar cells. , 2005, The journal of physical chemistry. B.

[15]  Ke-Jian Jiang,et al.  The influence of doping ions on poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) as a counter electrode of a dye-sensitized solar cell , 2007 .

[16]  N. Lawrence,et al.  Anodic stripping voltammetry of sulphide at a nickel film: towards the development of a reagentless sensor. , 2003, Talanta.

[17]  D. Wexler,et al.  Nanostructured nickel sulfide synthesized via a polyol route as a cathode material for the rechargeable lithium battery , 2007 .

[18]  H. Nesbitt,et al.  Interpretation of Ni2p XPS spectra of Ni conductors and Ni insulators , 2000 .

[19]  Zhengguo Jin,et al.  Electrodeposition of CuInSe2 films by an alternating double-potentiostatic method using nearly neutral electrolytes , 2009 .

[20]  W. Maier,et al.  An Iodine/Triiodide Reduction Electrocatalyst for Aqueous and Organic Media , 1997 .

[21]  V. N. Misra,et al.  Effect of thiourea during nickel electrodeposition from acidic sulfate solutions , 2005 .

[22]  D. Dobrev,et al.  Periodic reverse current electrodeposition of gold in an ultrasonic field using ion-track membranes as templates: growth of gold single-crystals , 2000 .

[23]  M. Grätzel,et al.  A low-cost, high-efficiency solar cell based on dye-sensitized colloidal TiO2 films , 1991, Nature.

[24]  A. G. U. Perera,et al.  Why Gratzel’s cell works so well , 2008 .

[25]  M. Grätzel,et al.  The influence of charge transport and recombination on the performance of dye-sensitized solar cells. , 2009, Chemphyschem : a European journal of chemical physics and physical chemistry.

[26]  Eiichi Abe,et al.  Flexible counter electrodes based on metal sheet and polymer film for dye-sensitized solar cells , 2005 .

[27]  P. Liska,et al.  Fabrication of thin film dye sensitized solar cells with solar to electric power conversion efficiency over 10 , 2008 .

[28]  N. Lawrence,et al.  Amperometric determination of sulfide at a pre-oxidised nickel electrode in acidic media. , 2003, The Analyst.

[29]  Monica Lira-Cantu,et al.  Influence of doped anions on poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) as hole conductors for iodine-free solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells. , 2008, Journal of the American Chemical Society.

[30]  Mohammad Khaja Nazeeruddin,et al.  Conversion of light to electricity by cis-X2bis(2,2'-bipyridyl-4,4'-dicarboxylate)ruthenium(II) charge-transfer sensitizers (X = Cl-, Br-, I-, CN-, and SCN-) on nanocrystalline titanium dioxide electrodes , 1993 .

[31]  Sang-Cheol Han,et al.  Charge–discharge mechanism of mechanically alloyed NiS used as a cathode in rechargeable lithium batteries , 2003 .

[32]  M. Graetzel,et al.  Enhancement of the performance of dye-sensitized solar cell by formation of shallow transport levels under visible light illumination , 2008 .

[33]  D. Jefferson,et al.  The Synthesis of Nickel Sulfide Nanoparticles on Graphitized Carbon Supports , 2002 .

[34]  S. Caporali,et al.  Nickel sulfur thin films deposited by ECALE: Electrochemical, XPS and AFM characterization , 2010 .

[35]  Yanhong Luo,et al.  In Situ Preparation of a Flexible Polyaniline/Carbon Composite Counter Electrode and Its Application in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells , 2010 .

[36]  Takayuki Kitamura,et al.  I−/I3− redox reaction behavior on poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) counter electrode in dye-sensitized solar cells , 2004 .

[37]  N. Papageorgiou,et al.  Counter-electrode function in nanocrystalline photoelectrochemical cell configurations , 2004 .

[38]  N. Imanishi,et al.  Nickel sulfides as a cathode for all-solid-state ceramic lithium batteries , 2007 .