Electrospinning synthesis and electrocatalytic performance of iron oxide/carbon nanofibers composites as a low-cost efficient Pt-free counter electrode for dye-sensitized solar cells

Abstract The exploration of low-cost and efficient counter electrodes (CEs) in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) is of great significance in view of potential application of DSSCs. Herein, the Fe 2 O 3 /CNFs composites are synthesized by electrospin method and a facile hydrothermal method, and the composites of Fe 2 O 3 /CNFs is used as a low-cost counter electrode for DSSCs. Scanning electron microscopy measurement shows that Fe 2 O 3 nanoparticles have been evenly located on the exterior of CNFs, providing abundant catalytic active sites for triiodide reduction. The one dimensional CNFs has a high conductivity, which could effectively reduce the agglomeration of Fe 2 O 3 nanoparticles, thus increasing the specific surface area of the material and facilitating the rapid transmission of ions and electrons in the electrolyte. The synergistic effect of Fe 2 O 3 /CNFs composite leads to high electrocatalytic activity. Consequently, DSSCs devices constructed with an Fe 2 O 3 /CNFs composite based on CE afford a decent power conversion efficiency of 7.48%, higher than the expensive Pt CE based DSSCs (6.97%).