The Future of Using Earth-Abundant Elements in Counter Electrodes for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells.
Adv Mater
; 28(20): 3802-13, 2016 05.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-26727984
ABSTRACT
With limited global resources for many of the elements that are found in some of the most common renewable energy technologies, there is a growing need to use "Earth-abundant" elements as a long-term solution to growing energy demands. The dye-sensitized solar cell has the potential to produce low-cost renewable energy, with inexpensive production and most components using Earth-abundant elements. However, the most commonly used material for the cell counter electrode (CE) is platinum, an extremely expensive and rare element. A selection of the materials investigated as alternative CEs are discussed, including metal sulfides, oxides, carbides, and nitrides and carbon-based materials such as carbon nanotubes, graphene, and conductive polymers. As well as having the potential for lower cost, these materials can also produce more-efficient devices due to their high surface area and catalytic activity. Therefore, once issues such as stability have been studied in more detail and scale-up of production methods are considered, there is a very promising future for the replacement of Pt in DSSCs with lower-cost, Earth-abundant alternatives.
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Language:
En
Journal:
Adv Mater
Journal subject:
BIOFISICA
/
QUIMICA
Year:
2016
Document type:
Article
Publication country:
ALEMANHA
/
ALEMANIA
/
DE
/
DEUSTCHLAND
/
GERMANY