Optimization of Dye-sensitized Solar Cells Consisting of Low-temperature Fabricated Mesoporous Carbon Counter Electrode

doi:10.3724/SP.J.1077.2012.00083

Abstract

Abstract:

Carbon counter electrode was fabricated using high surface area mesoporous carbon (MC) as catalytic material at low temperature. The integral structure and the photovoltaic performances of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSC) consisting of the obtained carbon counter electrode were emphatically optimized. The results show that both contact interface among MC particles and that between carbon catalytic film and substrate are improved by adding Triton X100 into MC slurry, leading to an increase of 7.1% in the efficiency of DSC. With the increasing thickness of TiO₂film, the efficiency of DSC sharply increases at first and tends to stabilization later on. The change in the efficiency is the result of competition between the adsorption amount of dye and the transmission path of electron in the TiO₂ film. The resistance of electrolyte is reduced by mixing tributyl phosphate into electrolyte, resulting in an increase of 23.1% in the efficiency of DSC. The optimum efficiency of DSC employing carbon counter electrode reaches 4.82%.

Key words: mesoporous carbon, counter electrode, low-temperature preparation, solar cells

CLC Number:

TM914

XU Shun-Jian, LUO Yu-Feng, LI Shui-Gen, ZHONG Wei, HUANG Ming-Dao. Optimization of Dye-sensitized Solar Cells Consisting of Low-temperature Fabricated Mesoporous Carbon Counter Electrode[J]. Journal of Inorganic Materials, 2012, 27(1): 83-88.

Figures/Tables 8

Fig. 1 SEM images of catalytic layer derived from mesoporous carbon

Table 1 Effect of Triton X100 in carbon paste on the photovoltaic parameters of DSC

Triton X100	V_OC /V	J_SC /(mA·cm^-2)	FF	η /%
No-mixing	0.687	12.66	0.517	4.50
Mixing	0.695	13.95	0.497	4.82

Fig. 2 Effect of the thickness of TiO2 layer on the photovoltaic parameters of DSC

Fig. 3 SEM image of TiO2 layer

Table 2 Effect of tributyl phosphate (TBP) in electrolyte on the photovoltaic parameters of DSC

TBP	V_OC/V	J_SC/(mA·cm^-2)	FF	η/%
Mixing	0.692	12.37	0.516	4.42
Unmixing	0.670	10.36	0.517	3.59

Table 3 Effect of tributyl phosphate (TBP) in electrolyte on the impedance parameters of electrochemical cell

TBP	R_ct /(Ω·cm²)	R_s /(Ω·cm²)	Z_w /(Ω·cm²)
Mixing	10.76	31.39	23.70
Unmixing	7.02	44.60	23.21

Fig. 4 Effect of tributyl phosphate (TBP) in electrolyte on the EIS of electrochemical cell

Fig. 5 Effects of space between electrodes on the photovoltaic parameters of DSC

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