Korean Journal of Materials Research (한국재료학회지)

Materials Research Society of Korea (한국재료학회)
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Fabrication of Octahedral Co3O4/Carbon Nanofiber Composites for Pt-Free Counter Electrode in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

염료감응 태양전지의 Pt-free 상대전극을 위한 팔면체 Co3O4/탄소나노섬유 복합체 제조

  • An, HyeLan (Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Seoul National University of Science and Technology) ;
  • An, Geon-Hyoung (Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Seoul National University of Science and Technology) ;
  • Ahn, Hyo-Jin (Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Seoul National University of Science and Technology)
  • 안혜란 (서울과학기술대학교 신소재공학과) ;
  • 안건형 (서울과학기술대학교 신소재공학과) ;
  • 안효진 (서울과학기술대학교 신소재공학과)
  • Received : 2016.02.12
  • Accepted : 2016.03.29
  • Published : 2016.05.27
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Abstract

Octahedral $Co_3O_4$/carbon nanofiber (CNF) composites are fabricated using electrospinning and hydrothermal methods. Their morphological characteristics, chemical bonding states, and electrochemical properties are used to demonstrate the improved photovoltaic properties of the samples. Octahedral $Co_3O_4$ grown on CNFs is based on metallic Co nanoparticles acting as seeds in the CNFs, which seeds are directly related to the high performance of DSSCs. The octahedral $Co_3O_4$/CNFs composites exhibit high photocurrent density ($12.73mA/m^2$), superb fill factor (62.1 %), and excellent power conversion efficiency (5.61 %) compared to those characteristics of commercial $Co_3O_4$, conventional CNFs, and metallic Co-seed/CNFs. These results can be described as stemmnig from the synergistic effect of the porous and graphitized matrix formed by catalytic graphitization using the metal cobalt catalyst on CNFs, which leads to an increase in the catalytic activity for the reduction of triiodide ions. Therefore, octahedral $Co_3O_4$/CNFs composites can be used as a counter electrode for Pt-free dye-sensitized solar cells.

Keywords

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