Pd–Co-doped carbon nanofibers with photoactivity as effective counter electrodes for DSSCs

Utilizing precious metals as counter electrodes in the dye sensitized solar cells prevents wide applications of this interesting energy device because of the cost aspect. Due to the axial ratio feature, nanofibers are expected to have novel characteristics. In this study, Pd–Co-doped carbon nanofibers could be successfully prepared using simple, low cost, high yield and effective technique; electrospinning. As a counter electrode material in the dye sensitized solar cell, the introduced nanofibers revealed good performance as the fabricated DSSC attains relatively high short-circuit current density (JSC) of 9.8 mA/cm2 and open circuit voltage (VOC) of 0.705 V. Beside the known catalytic activity, the utilized metallic carbon nanofibers revealed a band gap of 4.7 eV which simultaneously enhances the iodine reduction on the electrode surface. Moreover, the introduced nanofibers have the advantage of chemical stability because the metallic nanoparticles are sheathed inside a crystalline carbon shell. The introduced nanofibers have been synthesized by calcination of electrospun nanofibers composed of Pd nanoparticles/cobalt acetate tetrahydrate/poly(vinyl alcohol) in a vacuum atmosphere. Overall, the introduced manuscript might open new avenue to utilized new class of materials as counter electrodes based on photoactivity co-assistance.

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► Pd–Co-doped carbon nanofibers were synthesized using simple and effective technique.
► New class of materials based on photoactivity can be used as counter electrodes in DSSCs.
► The introduced bimetallic nanofibers are sheathed in highly crystalline carbon.
► The introduced nanofibers revealed good performance as cathode in the DSSCs.