Biocarbon from brewery residues as a counter electrode catalyst in dye solar cells

Armi Tiihonen*, Virpi Siipola, Katja Lahtinen, Heikki Pajari, Petri Widsten, Tarja Tamminen, Tanja Kallio, Kati Miettunen*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

19 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We explore biocarbon as a low-cost, abundant, and environmentally friendly replacement for Pt in dye solar cells. We introduce a novel biochar based on brewery residues with good performance and stability potential as a counter electrode in complete dye solar cells, and present the first long-term stability test results of a biocarbon in complete dye solar cells. The hydrothermally carbonized and KOH-activated brewer's spent grain (BSG) offers an extremely high surface area for catalytic reactions (2190 m2/g). Counter electrodes based on this material provide a promising initial performance (efficiency of 3.6 ± 0.2% for biocarbon solar cells compared to 5.3 ± 0.2% for reference cells with Pt catalyst) with current production and the total resistance of solar cells very close to that of Pt based solar cells. In an extended accelerated aging test, the best biocarbon dye solar cell maintained over 86% of its initial efficiency for 3000 h. Moreover, the biocarbon reduced the degradation via loss of electrolyte charge carriers during aging. Based on these results, the activated BSG biocarbon provides a promising alternative for Pt catalysts.

Original languageEnglish
Article number137583
JournalElectrochimica Acta
Volume368
Early online date7 Dec 2020
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Feb 2021
MoE publication typeA1 Journal article-refereed

Funding

This work was a part of the Academy of Finland's Flagship Programme under Projects No. 318890 and 318891 (Competence Center for Materials Bioeconomy, FinnCERES). Armi Tiihonen thanks also Alfred Kordelin Foundation and Svenska Tekniska Vetenskapsakademien i Finland. Kati Miettunen is grateful for the Academy Fellowship funded by Academy of Finland (grants No. 318557 and 320100 ). We acknowledge the provision of facilities and technical support (SEM imaging) by Aalto University at OtaNano - Nanomicroscopy Center (Aalto-NMC).

Keywords

  • Biocarbon
  • Counter electrode
  • Dye solar cells
  • Stability

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