Wood-derived pore-rich carbon: A green catalyst for counter electrodes of dye-sensitized solar cells

Abstract

Common Pt-based electrocatalysts have the disadvantages of high cost and easy deactivation. The research focus will be the development of carbon-based counter electrodes (CEs) due to the high conductivity and stability in the electrolytes. This paper prepares a kind of CE with wood-derived pore-rich carbon (WDPRC), which uses poplar as the precursor and activates with KOH at different temperatures (700, 800, and 900 °C). 800-WDPRC (800 represents temperature) had a large specific surface area of 1234.30 m2/g, which shows that it has a rich pore structure, and provides more active sites for the reaction. And the DSSCs’ PCE with 800-WDPRC (5.99%) is higher than the wood-derived carbon (WDC) (carbonize at 800 °C and without activation) (2.32%). As for the CEs’ materials, the WDPRCs’ manufacturing process is simple (only two steps), and the materials used are environment-friendly and low in price. Therefore, this paper provides a new idea for preparing clean and efficient DSSCs’ CEs.