Herein, we report on the effect of the precursors on the structural, morphological, and optical properties of niobium selenide using the heat-up colloidal method. The metal precursor was varied from the conventional NbCl₅ to NbF₅ whilst Se, SeO₂, and selenourea were used as the selenium precursors. The NbCl₅ and NbF₅ resulted in the formation of NbSe₂ and Nb₂Se₉ respectively. While maintaining the two different metal precursors and varying the selenium precursor from Se, SeO₂ to selenourea, the properties of NbSe₂ and Nb₂Se₉ changed slightly, however the effect of changing the selenium precursor was less pronounced than changing the metal precursors. From the XRD and XPS, the NbSe₂ nanostructures were more susceptible to oxidation than Nb₂Se₉ as Nb₂O₅ was observed in the XRD and the percentage of M–O in the XPS was much higher in NbSe₂. NbSe₂ formed nanoflowers whilst Nb₂Se₉ formed rods with 3.29 eV and 2.43 eV band-gaps, respectively. Also, the band-gaps were red-shifted as the selenium precursors were varied. The NbSe₂ nanoflowers and Nb₂Se₉ nanorods were used as counter electrodes in dye-sensitized solar cells. Two methods were used to fabricate the counter electrodes i.e. spin coating and drop casting. The electrochemical properties of the spin coated counter electrodes were better than the drop casted ones; hence, they were employed in dye-sensitized solar cells. The spin coated NbSe₂ nanoflowers had the highest efficiency of 6.84%, attributed to the nanoflower morphology.

中文翻译：

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金属和硒前驱体对 NbSe2 和 Nb2Se9 纳米结构性能的影响及其在染料敏化太阳能电池中的应用

在此，我们使用加热胶体法报告了前驱体对硒化铌的结构、形态和光学性质的影响。金属前体从传统的 NbCl ₅变为 NbF ₅，而 Se、 SeO ₂和硒脲用作硒前体。NbCl ₅和NbF ₅分别导致NbSe ₂和Nb ₂ Se ₉的形成。在保持两种不同金属前驱体的同时，将硒前驱体从Se、 SeO ₂变为硒脲，NbSe ₂和Nb ₂ Se _9的性质略有变化，但改变硒前体的效果不如改变金属前体明显。从 XRD 和 XPS 可以看出，NbSe _{2纳米结构比 Nb 2} Se ₉更容易氧化，因为在 XRD 中观察到 Nb ₂ O _{5并且在 XPS 中 M-O 的百分比在 NbSe 2}中要高得多。NbSe ₂形成纳米花，而 Nb ₂ Se ₉形成带隙分别为 3.29 eV 和 2.43 eV 的棒。此外，随着硒前体的变化，带隙也发生了红移。NbSe ₂纳米花和 Nb ₂ Se ₉纳米棒被用作染料敏化太阳能电池中的对电极。两种方法用于制造反电极，即旋涂和滴铸。旋涂对电极的电化学性能优于滴铸对电极；因此，它们被用于染料敏化太阳能电池。旋涂NbSe ₂纳米花的效率最高，为6.84%，这归因于纳米花的形态。