A simple method to synthesize low-cost carbon modified TiO2 counter electrodes for high-efficiency dye-sensitized solar cells

Abstract

Low cost and stable counter electrodes (CE) for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC) are promising for widespread use. In this paper, we report a simple and effective method to synthesize carbon modified TiO2 (TiO2/C) thin film as an abundant low cost CE for high-efficiency DSSC. The TiO2 paste layer contained organic compound was deposited on FTO glass substrate by a screen-printing method. When annealing the TiO2 paste layer at 450–550 °C under Ar flow, these organic compounds are decomposed to carbon to form carbon coated TiO2 nanoparticles. When used as a CE of DSSCs, the experimental results point out that the photoelectric conversion efficiency of DSSCs was obviously improved to near that of the referenced Pt CE. For TiO2/C is one of the cheapest and most stable materials, this TiO2/C can be used as a low cost CE for large scale high efficient DSSCs.