Direct conversion of CO2 to 3D graphene and its excellent performance for dye-sensitized solar cells with 10% efficiency

Abstract

The direct conversion of CO₂ into important solid materials is one of the most attractive research topics. In this communication, we report an invention, namely, the reaction of CO₂ and Na to form three dimensional crape myrtle flower-like graphene with superior properties of a large surface area and high conductivity. Furthermore, the dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) with the 3D graphene as a counter electrode exhibited a high energy conversion efficiency of 10.1%, which is much higher than that (7.7%) of the DSSC with an expensive Pt counter electrode. This provides a promising method to synthesize electrode materials and a novel approach to utilize a greenhouse gas.