Flexible quantum dot-sensitized solar cells employing CoS nanorod arrays/graphite paper as effective counter electrodes

Miaoling Que, Wenxi Guo, Xiaojia Zhang, Xiaoyi Li, Qilin Hua, Lin Dong*, Caofeng Pan

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

84 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We present a flexible solar cell which is composed of cobalt sulfide (CoS) nanorod arrays (NRAs) on graphite papers (GPs) (CoS NRAs/GP) as the counter electrode and CdS/CdSe quantum dot sensitized ZnO NRAs (CdS/CdSe@ZnO NRAs) as the photoanode. Orderly ZnO NRAs were directly fabricated on the flexible ITO/PET substrate by a hydrothermal method and CdS and CdSe quantum dots were subsequently deposited on them by chemical liquid deposition. CoS NRA/GP hybrid electrodes showed much higher electrocatalytic activity, higher exchange current density, and lower charge transfer resistance toward the reduction of S x2- ions compared to Pt and GP electrodes and they exhibited superior performance when functioning as counter electrodes (CEs) in CdS/CdSe quantum dot-sensitized solar cells (QDSSCs), 400-500% better than that with Pt and GP as counter electrodes. An absolute energy conversion efficiency of 2.70% has been demonstrated for the QDSSC employing an optimized CoS NRA/GP hybrid electrode, which was relatively higher than those of the QDSSCs featuring Pt (0.52%) and GP (0.71%) CEs. This work not only provides a hybrid electrode with high catalytic activity for QDSSCs, but also demonstrates a cost-effective way to fabricate flexible electrodes that can be applied in dye-sensitized solar cells or super capacitors. This journal is

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)13661-13666
Number of pages6
JournalJournal of Materials Chemistry A
Volume2
Issue number33
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 7 Sept 2014
Externally publishedYes

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Que, M., Guo, W., Zhang, X., Li, X., Hua, Q., Dong, L., & Pan, C. (2014). Flexible quantum dot-sensitized solar cells employing CoS nanorod arrays/graphite paper as effective counter electrodes. Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 2(33), 13661-13666. https://doi.org/10.1039/c4ta02052a