Hierarchical NiO/CMK-3 Photocathode for a <i>p</i>-Type Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell with Improved Photoelectrochemical Performance and Fast Hole Transfer

• Main Authors: Jie Qu, Zhaoyang Fan, Hamed Mira, Jianan Wang, Amor M. Abdelkader, Shujiang Ding
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-04-01
• Series: Molecules
• Subjects: NiO; CMK-3; Fast hole transport; Solar cell
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/25/7/1638

The sluggish photoelectrochemical performance of <i>p</i>-type dye-sensitized solar cells (<i>p</i>-DSSCs) has hindered its commercial use. In this work, we introduce a novel hierarchical nanocomposite of NiO nanoparticles anchored on highly ordered mesoporous carbons CMK-3 (NiO/CMK-3). Using CMK-3 as a backbone effectively prevented the self-aggregation of NiO nanoparticles and subsequently increased the total specific surface area of the composite for more dye adsorption. The interconnected conductive networks of CMK-3 also served as a split-flow high-speed channel, which was beneficial for hole spin-flow to accelerate hole transfer. The hierarchical NiO/CMK-3 photocathode improved the photovoltaic conversion efficiency to 1.48% in a cell with a Cobalt(II)/(III) electrolyte and a PMI-6T-TPA dye.