Platinum-free, carbon-based materials as efficient counter electrodes for dye-sensitized solar cells

Abstract

The electrocatalytic potential of carbon materials makes them the most viable candidate to replace Pt as a counter electrode (CE) in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). In this research, we report our study using graphite, CNT/graphite composite, CNT, and Pt-based CEs in DSSCs. The electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measurement showed that the CNT-based CE (CNT-CE) has the lowest charge transport resistance (Rct) compared with graphite and the CNT/graphite composite. The photovoltaic performance measurement showed that the CNT-CE resulted in a short-circuit photocurrent density (Jsc) of 3.59 mA·cm−2 whereas the Pt-based CE (Pt-CE) resulted in a Jsc of 2.76 mA·cm−2.