Enhanced electrocatalytic performance of nickel diselenide grown on graphene toward the reduction of triiodide redox couples

Abstract

The promising activity of nickel diselenide (NiSe₂) towards electrocatalysis has made it especially attractive in energy conversion fields. However, NiSe₂ with high electrocatalytic performance always requires complicated fabrication or expensive conductive polymers, resulting in the scale-up still being challenging. Herein, we introduce a simple and cost-effective synthesis of NiSe₂ dispersed on the surface of graphene (NiSe₂/RGO NPs). NiSe₂/RGO NPs exhibited enhanced electrocatalytic performance and long-term stability for the reduction reaction of triiodide redox couples in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Leveraging the advantageous features, the DSSC fabricated with NiSe₂/RGO NPs as CE had a smaller charge-transfer resistance (R_ct) value and higher short-circuit current density and fill factor than naked NiSe₂ NPs. Additionally, NiSe₂/RGO NPs achieved a PCE of 7.76%, higher than that of pure NiSe₂ (6.51%) and even exceeding that of Pt (7.56%). These prominent features demonstrated that the NiSe₂/RGO NPs in this work are a promising cheap and efficient electrocatalyst to replace state-of-the-art Pt.