Atmospheric Environment Fabrication of Composite Films by Ethanol Catalytic Combustion and Its Use as Counter Electrodes for Dye-Sensitized Soar Cells

Xiaoping Zou,Cuiliu Wei

doi:10.1155/2014/292780

Abstract

The composite films which consist of amorphous carbon, carbon nanotube, and iron nanoparticles were prepared by ethanol catalytic combustion in atmospheric environment. The as-prepared composite films have good electrocatalytic activity and high conductivity which is due to their particular structure. The efficiency of the composite films based dye-sensitized soar cells (DSSCs) is closed to that of the Pt based one. Most importantly, the DSSC employing the composite films presents a higher FF than those of Pt based solar cell. In addition, it is a simple method for mass production of composite films counter electrode (CE) which is expected to reduce the cost of fabricating DSSCs.

Highlights

Since the report by O’Regan and Gratzel in 1991 [1], dye-sensitized soar cells (DSSCs) have been regarded as promising devices for energy applications because of their advantages of low cost, ease of manufacture, and a relatively high photo-to-current conversion efficiency [2]
We can see that the metal nanoparticles are wrapped in the surface of nanotube and the amorphous carbon
There are some peaks in 0 to 400 cm−1 named radial breathing vibration mode (RBM) which shows that the composite films contain singlewalled carbon nanotubes

Summary

Introduction

Since the report by O’Regan and Gratzel in 1991 [1], DSSCs have been regarded as promising devices for energy applications because of their advantages of low cost, ease of manufacture, and a relatively high photo-to-current conversion efficiency [2]. The solar energy conversion efficiency of DSSCs with a ruthenium sensitizer and Pt counter electrode reaches 13.1% [3]. Pt has been widely used as the counter electrode in DSSCs. Pt exhibits excellent catalytic activity for triiodide reduction and good electric conductivity, it is extremely expensive. The application of composite films which consist of amorphous carbon, carbon nanotube, and iron nanoparticles as counter electrode in DSSCs has not been reported yet. The as-prepared composite films as the counter electrode exhibit a good photovoltaic performance of DSSCs

Experimental

Results and Discussion

Conclusions

Conflict of Interests