Sodium lignosulfonate-derived ONS-doped hierarchical porous carbon for high-performance DSSC counter electrodes

Abstract

In order to address the question of high cost and poverty corrosion resistance of platinum electrodes used in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). In this experiment, sodium lignosulfonate (SL) was used as a precursor to prepare oxygen-nitrogen-sulfur (ONS) co-doped lignin hierarchical porous carbon through pre-carbonization and KOH chemical activation. It exhibits 2252.145 m²g^-1 of BET-specific surface area, 1.613 cm³g^-1 of total pore volume, and a profusion of micro, meso, and macropores. The total ONS doping in lignin hierarchical porous carbon is 9.47 %–14.99 %. When used as the counter electrode (CE) in a DSSC assembly, lignin hierarchical porous carbon doped with ONS achieved a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 8.89 %, which is 9 % higher than the platinum electrode's (8.14 %) value. This highlights the potential application of hierarchical porous carbon derived from sodium lignosulfonate in more cost-effective DSSCs.