Fabrications of three copper sulfide counter electrodes and their influences on photovoltaic properties in QDSSCs

Authors

Xiao-dan HONG, Research Institute for Biomimetics and Soft Matter, Fujian Provincial Key Lab for Soft Functional Materials Research, Department of Physics, College of Physical Science and Technology, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005;
Zi-jie XU, Research Institute for Biomimetics and Soft Matter, Fujian Provincial Key Lab for Soft Functional Materials Research, Department of Physics, College of Physical Science and Technology, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005;
Fa-yin ZHANG, The State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, P.R. China.
Yu-peng LI, Research Institute for Biomimetics and Soft Matter, Fujian Provincial Key Lab for Soft Functional Materials Research, Department of Physics, College of Physical Science and Technology, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005;
Mei-dan YE, Research Institute for Biomimetics and Soft Matter, Fujian Provincial Key Lab for Soft Functional Materials Research, Department of Physics, College of Physical Science and Technology, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005;Follow
Chang-jian LIN, State Key Laboratory of Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces, Department of Chemistry, College of Chemistry and Chemistry Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005;
Wen-xi GUO, Research Institute for Biomimetics and Soft Matter, Fujian Provincial Key Lab for Soft Functional Materials Research, Department of Physics, College of Physical Science and Technology, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005;

Corresponding Author

Mei-dan YE(mdye@xmu.edu.cn)

Abstract

Quantum dot-sensitized solar cells (QDSSCs) have attracted intensive attention in scientific and industrial fields due to their high molar extinction coefficient, spectral tunability by particle size, ease of fabrication, and low cost. In the past years, semiconductor metal sulfides have attracted extensive attention because of their attractive physical and chemical properties for potential applications in many fields，such as PbS, CuS, CoS and CdS. In particular, copper sulfides have become a promising candidate for counter electrode materials in QDSSCs for their outstanding electrochemical and catalytic properties. In order to explore more stable and efficient copper sulfide counter electrode materials, in this work, we used three different methods to synthesize copper sulfide nanosheet arrays (marked as CuS-1, CuS-2, CuS-3), which were then characterized by XRD, SEM and electrochemical workstation. XRD patterns showed that all the three samples were copper sulfide (Cu:S = 1:1). And SEM images revealed that the fabrication methods of CuS significantly affected their morphologies. . The obtained CuS-1, CuS-2 and CuS-3 nanosheet arrays exhibited enhanced PCEs up to 2.92%，2.58% and 3.27%, respectively, when used as CEs in QDSSCs, implying increases of 87%，65% and 109% as compared to Pt-based QDSSCs, respectively. Through all the characterizations, we found that the CuS-3 showed the best catalytic activity in the reduction of polysulfide electrolyte among the three samples.

Graphical Abstract

DOI Link

https://doi.org/10.13208/j.electrochem.160146

Publication Date

2016-08-29

Online Available Date

2016-05-18

Revised Date

2016-05-10

Received Date

2016-03-16

Recommended Citation

Xiao-dan HONG, Zi-jie XU, Fa-yin ZHANG, Yu-peng LI, Mei-dan YE, Chang-jian LIN, Wen-xi GUO. Fabrications of three copper sulfide counter electrodes and their influences on photovoltaic properties in QDSSCs[J]. Journal of Electrochemistry, 2016 , 22(4): 160146.
DOI: 10.13208/j.electrochem.160146
Available at: https://jelectrochem.xmu.edu.cn/journal/vol22/iss4/13