Issue 24, 2011
From the journal:

Journal of Materials Chemistry

Facile synthesis of open mesoporous carbon nanofibers with tailored nanostructure as a highly efficient counter electrode in CdSe quantum-dot-sensitized solar cells†

Baizeng Fang,abc   Minwoo Kim,a   Sheng-Qiang Fan,ad   Jung Ho Kim,a   David P. Wilkinson,*bc   Jaejung Ko*a  and  Jong-Sung Yu*a  

* Corresponding authors

a Department of Advanced Materials Chemistry, WCU Research Team, Korea University, 208 Seochang, Jochiwon, ChungNam, Republic of Korea
E-mail: jsyu212@korea.ac.kr, jko@korea.ac.kr
Fax: (+81)-41-867-5396
Tel: (+81)-41-860-1494

b Department of Chemical & Biological Engineering, University of British Columbia, 2360 East Mall, Vancouver, B.C., Canada
E-mail: dwilkinson@chbe.ubc.ca

c Clean Energy Research Centre, 2360 East Mall, Vancouver, B.C., Canada

d Department of Applied Chemistry, School of Science, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, People's Republic of China

Abstract

A simple but very efficient reproducible approach was developed to fabricate novel mesoporous carbon nanofibers (MCNFs) with tailored nanostructure by using porous anodic aluminium oxide (AAO) membrane and colloidal silica as hard templates and phenolic resin as a carbon source. The as-prepared MCNFs with a channel diameter of ca. 200 nm reveal uniform one-dimensional (1D) nanofiber structure, created by the replication of the AAO template, and open interconnected spherical mesopores of ca. 30 nm in diameter embedded in the CNFs, mainly controlled by the particle size of the silica template. Due to their large mesopore size and volume, high specific surface area and unique nanostructure constituted by the 1D macro-scaled porous CNF and 3D interconnected mesopore structure, the MCNFs not only possess a large electrochemically active surface area, but also an open highway network favoring rapid electron transfer and fast mass transport. As a counter electrode in a CdSe quantum-dot-sensitized solar cell, the MCNF has demonstrated higher catalytic activity towards the reduction of polysulfide electrolyte and superior photovoltaic performance to its peers such as activated carbon (AC), hollow core/mesoporous shell carbon and ordered multimodal porous carbon, and the commonly used Pt electrode, revealing a fill factor of 0.60 and a power conversion efficiency of up to 4.81%. Excellent photovoltaic performance demonstrated by the MCNF suggests synergetic effects from the combination of 1D and 3D nanostructures.

Graphical abstract: Facile synthesis of open mesoporous carbon nanofibers with tailored nanostructure as a highly efficient counter electrode in CdSe quantum-dot-sensitized solar cells

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Article information

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1039/C1JM10113G
Article type
Paper
Submitted
08 Jan 2011
Accepted
01 Apr 2011
First published
12 May 2011

J. Mater. Chem., 2011,21, 8742-8748

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Facile synthesis of open mesoporous carbon nanofibers with tailored nanostructure as a highly efficient counter electrode in CdSe quantum-dot-sensitized solar cells

B. Fang, M. Kim, S. Fan, J. H. Kim, D. P. Wilkinson, J. Ko and J. Yu, J. Mater. Chem., 2011, 21, 8742 DOI: 10.1039/C1JM10113G

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