Abstract:
A low-cost, activated carbon (AC) and sugar-coated
stainless-steel counter electrode for dye-sensitized solar cells
was successfully fabricated and characterized. For performance
comparison, a similar electrode was fabricated using a FTO glass
as the substrate. The photovoltaic performance of dye-sensitized
solar cells made with these two counter electrodes were compared
with solar cells made with a Pt counter electrode. The optimized,
activated carbon-coated, stainless-steel-based dye-sensitized
solar cells showed an energy conversion efficiency of 8.21%
while similarly optimized solar cells made with activated carbon
coated FTO counter electrode showed an efficiency of 7.50%.
The efficiency of corresponding solar cells made with Pt counter
electrode was 9.22%. The high solar cell efficiency of 89% of
that of Pt based cells can be attributed to the high electro-catalytic
activity and enhanced effective surface area of activated carbon/
sugar composite and good electrical conductivity of stainless steel
as demonstrated by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy,
cyclic voltammetry, Tafel plot analysis and SEM imaging.
