Abstract: Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have been far and wide employed as the counter electrodes (CEs) in dye-sensitized solar cells because of their individual physical and chemical properties. However, the techniques available now, such as chemical vapor deposition, arc discharge and laser ablation for synthesizing CNTs, commonly suffer from rigorous operations and complicated steps, which make the process difficult to be controlled. Herein, we present a simple and facile glutamic acid-assisted hydrothermal recrystallization strategy to construct bamboo-like CNTs (GHP-BC-x). Generally, the conventional organic dye 3,4,9,10-perylene tetracarboxylic dianhydride (PTCDA) is used as a precursor and glutamic acid efficiently promotes the recrystallization of the perylene cores' planar π-conjugated system in PTCDA under hydrothermal conditions and then self-assembles into one-dimensional nanorods with improved crystallization degree, finally resulting in the morphology of bamboo-like CNTs after carbonization. When applied as the counter electrodes, the GHP-BC-3 displays a remarkable power conversion efficiency of 8.25%, benefiting from the superb electrical conductivity and mass transfer dynamics, superior to that of Pt CE (7.62%).

Key words: Hydrothermal recrystallization, Bamboo-like carbon nanotubes, Counter electrodes, Electrocatalysis, Triiodide reduction

摘要： Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have been far and wide employed as the counter electrodes (CEs) in dye-sensitized solar cells because of their individual physical and chemical properties. However, the techniques available now, such as chemical vapor deposition, arc discharge and laser ablation for synthesizing CNTs, commonly suffer from rigorous operations and complicated steps, which make the process difficult to be controlled. Herein, we present a simple and facile glutamic acid-assisted hydrothermal recrystallization strategy to construct bamboo-like CNTs (GHP-BC-x). Generally, the conventional organic dye 3,4,9,10-perylene tetracarboxylic dianhydride (PTCDA) is used as a precursor and glutamic acid efficiently promotes the recrystallization of the perylene cores' planar π-conjugated system in PTCDA under hydrothermal conditions and then self-assembles into one-dimensional nanorods with improved crystallization degree, finally resulting in the morphology of bamboo-like CNTs after carbonization. When applied as the counter electrodes, the GHP-BC-3 displays a remarkable power conversion efficiency of 8.25%, benefiting from the superb electrical conductivity and mass transfer dynamics, superior to that of Pt CE (7.62%).

关键词: Hydrothermal recrystallization, Bamboo-like carbon nanotubes, Counter electrodes, Electrocatalysis, Triiodide reduction