Properties of the nano-thick Pt/W bilayered catalytic layer employed dye sensitized solar cells

Abstract

A Pt/W bilayered catalytic layer on a flat glass substrate was used as a counter electrode to improve the energy conversion efficiency of a dye-sensitized solar cell device with the structure of 0.45 cm2 effective area of glass/FTO/blocking layer/TiO2/N719 (dye)/electrolyte/50 nm Pt/50 nm W/glass. For comparison, 100 nm-thick Pt and W counter electrodes on flat glass substrates were also prepared using the same procedure. The photovoltaic properties, such as the short circuit current density, open circuit voltage, fill factor, energy conversion efficiency and impedance were characterized using a solar simulator and potentiostat. The phases and microstructures of the catalytic layers were examined by x-ray diffraction and field emission electron microscopy. The measured energy conversion efficiencies of the dye-sensitized solar cell devices with Pt only and Pt/W bilayer counter electrodes were 4.60% and 6.54%, respectively. The interface resistance at the interface between the counter electrode and electrolyte decreased when a Pt/W bilayered thin film was applied. The increase in efficiency resulted from the effect of compressive strain field formed by the intermetallic layer of Pt2W at Pt and W layer interface. This suggests that the use of Pt/W bilayered catalytic layers improves the efficiency of the dye-sensitized solar cells compared to those using the conventional Pt layers.