Electrospinning synthesis and electrocatalytic performance of iron oxide/carbon nanofibers composites as a low-cost efficient Pt-free counter electrode for dye-sensitized solar cells

Abstract

The exploration of low-cost and efficient counter electrodes (CEs) in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) is of great significance in view of potential application of DSSCs. Herein, the Fe2O3/CNFs composites are synthesized by electrospin method and a facile hydrothermal method, and the composites of Fe2O3/CNFs is used as a low-cost counter electrode for DSSCs. Scanning electron microscopy measurement shows that Fe2O3 nanoparticles have been evenly located on the exterior of CNFs, providing abundant catalytic active sites for triiodide reduction. The one dimensional CNFs has a high conductivity, which could effectively reduce the agglomeration of Fe2O3 nanoparticles, thus increasing the specific surface area of the material and facilitating the rapid transmission of ions and electrons in the electrolyte. The synergistic effect of Fe2O3/CNFs composite leads to high electrocatalytic activity. Consequently, DSSCs devices constructed with an Fe2O3/CNFs composite based on CE afford a decent power conversion efficiency of 7.48%, higher than the expensive Pt CE based DSSCs (6.97%).