Laser-induced nitrogen and boron co-doped graphene film for dye-sensitized solar cell applications

Abstract

Heteroatom-doped graphenes play a crucial role in developing metal-free electrocatalysts for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). This work demonstrates an approach to synthesizing nitrogen and boron dual-doped porous graphene as an efficient DSSC counter electrode (CE) by one-step laser induction technology. The morphologies, crystal structure, and chemical composition of N and/or B-doped laser-induced graphene were characterized and confirmed by SEM, XRD, and XPS measurements. Electrochemical results indicate that the conductivity and electrocalalytic activity of the nitrogen and boron co-doped graphene (BN-LIG) for triiodide reduction were enhanced after B-doping. Hence, the DSSC based on BN-LIG CE achieved a power conversion efficiency of 4.99%, which is 90.9% of a DSSC with Pt CE.