Modification of Flexible Electrodes for P-Type (Nickel Oxide) Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell Performance Based on the Cellulose Nanofiber Film

Habtamu Fekadu Etefa; Vinod Kumar; Francis Birhanu Dejene; Mulugeta Tesema Efa; Leta Tesfaye Jule

doi:10.1021/acsomega.3c00383

Modification of Flexible Electrodes for P-Type (Nickel Oxide) Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell Performance Based on the Cellulose Nanofiber Film

ACS Omega. 2023 Apr 22;8(17):15249-15258. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.3c00383. eCollection 2023 May 2.

Authors

Habtamu Fekadu Etefa^{1

2}, Vinod Kumar³, Francis Birhanu Dejene¹, Mulugeta Tesema Efa⁴, Leta Tesfaye Jule²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemical and Physical Sciences, Walter Sisulu University (Mthatha Campus), P.O. Box Private Bag X-1, Mthatha 5117, South Africa.
² Department of Physics, College of Natural and Computational Science, Dambi Dollo University, Dambi Dollo 260, Ethiopia.
³ Department of Physics, The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine 330912, Trinidad and Tobago.
⁴ Department of Chemistry, College of Natural and Computational Science, Dambi Dollo University, Dambi Dollo 260, Ethiopia.

Abstract

The preparation of flexible electrode, including working electrode (WE) and counter electrode (CE), for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) utilizing metal oxides using environmentally friendly sustainable TEMPO-oxidized cellulose nanofibers (TOCNFs) is reported in this work. A new type of flexible electrode for the DSSCs, which were made of cellulose nanofiber composites with nickel hydroxide [CNF/Ni(OH)₂] substrate films and cellulose nanofiber composites with polypyrrole (CNF/PPY). Nickel hydroxide, Ni(OH)₂, has been prepared hydrothermally in the presence of TOCNFs, [TOCNF@Ni(OH)₂]. Similarly, the conductive polymer substrate has also been prepared from a composite consisting of TOCNF and PPY, TOCNF@ PPY film, by means of polymerization for the CE. Overall, the prepared electrodes both WE from CNF/Ni(OH)₂ substrates and CE from the TOCNF@PPY substrate film were revealed as the novelty of this work and which no one has introduced previously. Although NiO nanoparticles (NPs) coated on the Ni(OH)₂/TOCNF electrode also produced a good power conversion efficiency, PCE (0.75%); nevertheless, the NiO NP treatment with carbon dots boosted the efficiency up to 1.3%.