Ruthenium core-activated platinum monolayer shell high redox activity cathodic electrocatalysts for dye-sensitized solar cells

Here, we have combined the understanding of density functional theory in relation with lattice strain-to-activity correlation to design a Rucore–Ptshell structured electrocatalyst in a dye-sensitized solar cell (DSC) cathode. This electrocatalyst possesses a compressive lattice strain in the shell region which translocates the Pt valence charge to neighboring atoms to decrease the Pt valence band density of states and thus lower the Pt d-band levels. Consequently, compared with DSCs using Pt nanoparticles (NPs) cathode, the Rucore–Ptshell NPs improves the triiodide to iodide redox reduction activity by 2.11-fold and thus boosts the photovoltaic efficiency of DSCs by ∼30.4%. These results provide mechanistic information for the development of DSCs with reduced Pt utilization and programmable electrochemical performance.