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Photo‐enhanced catalytic activity of spray‐coated Cu 2 SnSe 3 nanoparticle counter electrode for dye‐sensitised solar cells
Author(s) -
Ananthakumar Soosaimanickam,
Li Xuan,
Anderson AnnLouise,
Yilmaz Pelin,
Dunn Steve,
Babu Sridharan Moorthy,
Briscoe Joe
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
physica status solidi (rrl) – rapid research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.786
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1862-6270
pISSN - 1862-6254
DOI - 10.1002/pssr.201600207
Subject(s) - oleylamine , auxiliary electrode , kesterite , materials science , dye sensitized solar cell , dielectric spectroscopy , overpotential , chemical engineering , nanoparticle , electrode , electrolyte , annealing (glass) , catalysis , electrochemistry , energy conversion efficiency , solar cell , nanotechnology , analytical chemistry (journal) , optoelectronics , czts , chemistry , metallurgy , organic chemistry , engineering
Cu 2 SnSe 3 nanoparticles are synthesised using oleylamine as both a solvent and capping agent and spray coated to form dye‐sensitised solar cell (DSSC) counter electrodes (CEs) using earth‐abundant elements. The film requires annealing at only 400 °C in nitrogen, which is a lower temperature than previous reports of both Cu 2 SnSe 3 and Cu 2 ZnSnSe 4 films, also avoiding the use of Se gas. The composition and phase of the material is confirmed to be kesterite Cu 2 SnSe 3 . DSSCs using Cu 2 SnSe 3 CEs give a power conversion efficiency of 4.87%, compared to 5.35% when using Pt. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy indicates that the performance of the Cu 2 SnSe 3 CE is enhanced under illumination, leading to a drop in the charge transfer resistance. This illumination‐induced enhancement of the catalytic activity provides a novel mechanism for the enhancement of CE performance in DSSCs.Photo‐excitation of the nanostructured Cu 2 SnSe 3 counter electrode provides a higher overpotential for electrolyte reduction, giving improved catalytic performance.