Wood-derived pore-rich carbon: A green catalyst for counter electrodes of dye-sensitized solar cells

•Poplar was used to prepare WDPRC which was synthesized by simple methods (carbonization and activation).•Investigated the structural and composition characteristics of WDPRC.•Illustrate the relationship between pore structure of WDPRC and the electrocatalytic activity of DSSCs.•The DSSCs with WDPRC achieved higher efficiency compared with WDC. Common Pt-based electrocatalysts have the disadvantages of high cost and easy deactivation. The research focus will be the development of carbon-based counter electrodes (CEs) due to the high conductivity and stability in the electrolytes. This paper prepares a kind of CE with wood-derived pore-rich carbon (WDPRC), which uses poplar as the precursor and activates with KOH at different temperatures (700, 800, and 900 °C). 800-WDPRC (800 represents temperature) had a large specific surface area of 1234.30 m2/g, which shows that it has a rich pore structure, and provides more active sites for the reaction. And the DSSCs’ PCE with 800-WDPRC (5.99%) is higher than the wood-derived carbon (WDC) (carbonize at 800 °C and without activation) (2.32%). As for the CEs’ materials, the WDPRCs’ manufacturing process is simple (only two steps), and the materials used are environment-friendly and low in price. Therefore, this paper provides a new idea for preparing clean and efficient DSSCs’ CEs.