Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) doped with various carbon-based materials as counter electrodes for dye sensitized solar cells

Publication date: 15 December 2017
Source:Materials & Design, Volume 136
Author(s): Muhammad Norhaffis Mustafa, Suhaidi Shafie, Zulkarnain Zainal, Yusran Sulaiman
Various carbon-based materials, poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) and titanium dioxide (TiO2) were used to fabricate new counter electrodes namely poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)-reduced graphene oxide/titanium dioxide (PEDOT-rGO/TiO2), poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)-nanocrystalline cellulose/titanium dioxide (PEDOT-NCC/TiO2) and poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)-multiwalled carbon nanotubes/titanium dioxide (PEDOT-MWCNT/TiO2). MWCNT and rGO provided high electrical conductivity and a large surface area, whereas NCC offered a large surface area and high optical transparency which is an important criterion to fabricate a good counter electrode for enhanced dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) performance. In addition, carbon-based materials have high availability and low cost compared to platinum-based materials which are more expensive and difficult to source. The PEDOT-NCC/TiO2 counter electrode exhibited good electrocatalytic activity towards tri-iodide ion reduction and yielded a power conversion efficiency of 2.10%, which was much higher compared to PEDOT-rGO/TiO2 (1.11%) and PEDOT-MWCNT/TiO2 (1.29%). PEDOT-NCC/TiO2 also displayed lower charge transfer resistance (Rct1=10.4Ω·cm²) and higher cathodic peak current density (Icp=−2.60mA·cm⁻²) as compared to the other counter electrodes.

Graphical abstract

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