Pt/Mesoporous carbon counter electrode with a low pt loading for high-efficient dye-sensitized solar cells

Abstract

Pt/Mesoporous carbon counter electrodes with a low Pt loading for dye-sensitized solar cells were fabricated by coating Pt/mesoporous carbon on fluorine-doped tin oxide glass. Pt/mesoporous carbon samples were prepared by reducing H 2 PtCl 6 with NaBH 4 in mesoporous carbon and characterized by N 2 adsorption analysis, X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. The Pt particles deposited on mesoporous carbon support were found to be in uniform shape and narrow range of particle size. Low-Pt-loading Pt/mesoporous carbon counter electrode showed a high electrocatalytic activity for triiodide reduction. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy measurement displayed a low charge-transfer resistance of 1.2 cm 2 for 1-Pt/mesoporous carbon counter electrode. Dye-sensitized solar cells based on the 1-Pt/mesoporous carbon counter electrode achieved an overall conversion efficiency of 6.62 under one sun illumination, which is higher than that of the cell with the conventional Pt counter electrode. Copyright © 2010 GuiqiangWang et al.