High-efficiency counter electrodes using graphene hybrid with a macrocyclic nickel complex for dye-sensitized solar cells

•Graphene/macrocyclic Ni complex-based hybrid materials were synthesized and applied for the CEs of DSSCs.•The macrocyclic Ni complex was successfully grafted onto the surface of GO.•The GO/Ni (1:3) nanocomposites showed excellent electrocatalytic activity for the reduction of triiodide.•The efficiency of the DSSCs based on the GO/Ni (1:3) CEs was higher than that of the Pt CE.

Nanocomposites using graphene hybrid with a fully conjugated macrocyclic nickel complex were successfully prepared via a simple redox reaction of graphene oxide and an octaaza-bis-α-diimine macrocyclic nickel complex. The dye-sensitized solar cells fabricated with the graphene/macrocyclic nickel complex-based nanocomposite counter electrode reached a power conversion efficiency of 8.30%, which was higher than that of the platinum counter electrode under the same conditions. The nanocomposites exhibited excellent electrocatalytic performance for the reduction of triiodide due to the well-distributed catalytic nickel center on the graphene surface.

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