Composites of Vanadium (III) Oxide (V2O3) Incorporating with Amorphous C as Pt-Free Counter Electrodes for Low-Cost and High-Performance Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells.

To replace precious Pt-based counter electrodes (CEs) with a low-cost Pt-free catalyst of CEs is still a motivating hotspot to decrease the fabrication cost of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Herein, four different V2O3@C composite catalysts were synthesized by pyrolysis of a precursor under N2 flow at 1100 °C and further served as catalytic materials of CEs for the encapsulation of DSSCs. The precursors of V2O3@C composites have been prepared via a sol-gel method using different proportions of V2O5 with soluble starch in a H2O2 solution. Power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of 3.59, 4.79, 5.15, and 5.06% were obtained from different V2O3@C composites, with soluble starch-to-V2O5 mass ratios (S/V) of 1:2, 1:1, 2:1, and 4:1, respectively, as CEs to reduce iodide/triiodide in DSSCs. The improvement of electrode performance is due to the combined effects on the increased specific surface area and the enhanced conductivity of V2O3@C composite catalysts.

Standard molar enthalpy of combustion and formation of quaternary ammonium tetrachlorozincate [n-CnH2n+1 N(CH3)3]2 ZnCl4.

The standard molar enthalpy of combustion (Δc H (o) m) and formation (Δf H (o) m) of quaternary ammonium tetrachlorozincate [n-CnH2n+1N(CH3)3]2ZnCl4 have been determined for the hydrocarbon chain length from even number 8 to 18 of carbon atoms (n) by an oxygen-bomb combustion calorimeter. The results indicated that the values of Δc H (o) m increased and Δf H (o) m decreased with increasing chain length and showed a linear dependence on the number of carbon atoms, which were caused by that the order and rigidity of the hydrocarbon chain decreased with increasing the carbon atoms. The linear regression equations are -Δc H (o) m =1440.50n +3730.67 and -Δf H (o) m = -85.32n + 1688.22.