Abstract
Multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT)/TiO2 mesoporous networks can be employed as a new alternative photoanode in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). By using the MWCNT/TiO2 mesoporous as photoanodes in DSSC, we demonstrate that the MWCNT/TiO2 mesoporous photoanode is promising alternative to standard FTO/TiO2 mesoporous based DSSC due to larger specific surface area and high electrochemical activity. We also show that iron pyrite (FeS2) thin films can be used as an efficient counter electrode (CE), an alternative to the conventional high cost Pt based CE. We are able to synthesis FeS2 nanostructures utilizing a very cheap and easy hydrothermal growth route. MWCNT/TiO2 mesoporous based DSSCs with FeS2 CE achieved a high solar conversion efficiency of 7.27% under 100 mW cm−2 (AM 1.5G 1-Sun) simulated solar irradiance which is considerably (slightly) higher than that of A-CNT/TiO2 mesoporous based DSSCs with Pt CE. Outstanding performance of the FeS2 CE makes it a very promising choice among the various CE materials used in the conventional DSSC and it is expected to be used more often to achieve higher photon-to-electron conversion efficiencies.
Highlights
Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) have been intensively studied with a growing demand as potential alternatives for the generation solar cells due to their low cost and eco-friendly production, easy processing, and relatively high energy conversion efficiency when compared with conventional solar cells[1,2]
The Influence of Multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT)/ TiO2 photoanode on solar conversion efficiency of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) is compared with a conventional TiO2 photoanode and result shows that efficiency is increased from 6.51% to 7.00% due to the enhanced light absorption and electron transport across the TiO2 mesoporous based thin films
Top view and cross sectional scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images of A-Carbon nanotubes (CNTs)/TiO2 mesoporous photoanode are shown in Fig. 1(a,b) at different magnifications. ~1 μm long CNT arrays were coated with TiO2 mesoporous structures and this is the key starting point of forming higher-phase hybrid system
Summary
The Effect of A-CNT Photoanodes on DSSC Performance. Top view and cross sectional SEM images of A-CNT/TiO2 mesoporous photoanode are shown in Fig. 1(a,b) at different magnifications. ~1 μm long CNT arrays were coated with TiO2 mesoporous structures and this is the key starting point of forming higher-phase hybrid system. Compared with a DSSC based on conventional TiO2 electrodes with Pt counter electrode, the MWCNT/TiO2 layer containing 1 wt.% of CNTs provided an increase of device efficiency, which can be attributed to the enhanced Jsc. The DSSC with the hybrid photoanode and conventional Pt CE exhibited a short-circuit photocurrent (Jsc) of 15.96 mA cm−2, open-circuit voltage (Voc) of 0.77 V, FF of 57% and solar conversion efficiency (η) of 7.00%. Factor (FF) of MWCNT/TiO2 photoanode based DSSC with FeS2 CE are obtained as 0.77 V, 16.86 mA/cm[2], and 0.56, respectively, yielding an energy conversion efficiency of 7.27%. It has been clearly shown that FeS2 materials have a good catalytic activity and have a big potential to be an ideal counter electrode for DSSC applications
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