Abstract
Strategies for environmentally friendly reutilization of waste biomass are highly desirable nowadays. Meanwhile, seeking Pt-free electrocatalysts for triiodide reduction with both high catalytic activity and low cost is critical for the development of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs). In the study, heteroatom tri-doped porous carbons (TPCs) were prepared via carbonization of a typical food waste (fish waste) and explored as a counter electrode (CE) in a DSC. The as-prepared carbon materials possessed a porous structure with a large BET surface area of 2933 m2 g−1, while being simultaneously naturally doped by three heteroatoms (N, P and S). More importantly, the resultant N, P, S-tri-doped porous carbon exhibited outstanding electrochemical activity towards triiodide reduction with good stability. Moreover, the DSC with the optimized TPC electrode showed a power conversion efficiency of 7.83%, which is comparable to the device with a costly Pt-based CE (8.34%), measured under one sun illumination (AM 1.5G). This work demonstrates that carbonization of fish waste offers a cost-effective approach to prepare multifunctional carbon materials for advanced energy applications.
Highlights
The hydroxyapatite acted as the self-template during the pyrolysis process
The pore size distribution of tridoped porous carbons (TPCs) sample calculated using DFT method from N2 adsorption isotherm is about 2.7 nm (Fig. 2b). These results con rm that hierarchical porous structure and ultrahigh surface area were simultaneously obtained for the sample via carbonization process, which are in good agreement with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscope (TEM) observation
The two electrodes exhibited nearly identical Rct, which is largely below than 10 U cm[2] needed for highly-efficient dye-sensitized solar cells.[19]. These results indicate that TPC could be used as efficient counter electrodes for dye-sensitized solar cells
Summary
Should possess high conductivity, good electrocatalytic activity of the redox couple, excellent stability in the corrosive electrolyte and low production costs.[4,6] In most cases, platinum metal is commonly utilized as a CE in DSCs due to its high conductivity and outstanding catalytic activity for triiodide reduction. Paper catalytic performance is ascribed to the existence of P–C bonds distributed in the carbon matrix.[21] dual-doped carbonaceous materials have been widely investigated as counter electrode materials in DSCs.[30] Compared with the N-doped (3.85%) or S-doped (4.23%) rGO CE-based device, the device containing N, S dual-doped rGO CE showed an increased power conversion efficiency (4.73%).[30] The increased performance is attributed to the presence of a highly localized state of carbon within the carbon frameworks This enormous progress indicates that carbon-based materials are promising alternative materials for Pt CE in DSCs. Generally, the above-mentioned porous carbon materials were prepared using so or hard template approaches with chemicals containing nitrogen and sulfur as the heteroatom sources.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
