Abstract:
Fossil fuels play an important in creating a balance between the energy supply and
demand, but the use of fossil fuels is associated with the adverse climate change effect
and rise in global temperature. To overcome these adverse effects, scientists are trying to
shift toward renewable energy sources especially solar energy which has huge global
potential. In this scenario, DSSC is a new and promising third-generation-based technique
that has an edge over others due to its low cost, simple assembly procedure, environmentfriendly
nature, and good power conversion efficiencies. One of the most important
components of DSSC that significantly affect the performance is the counter electrode,
which acts as a catalyst and is responsible for the reduction of triiodide ions in the redox
couple. In this study, Carbon-doped titania (C-TiO2) CEs were fabricated by using the
hydrothermal synthesis method. Four different weight ratios are used by varying the
amount of glucose.monohydrate 0.25g (5% of TiO2), 0.5 g (10 % of TiO2), 0.75 g (15 %
of TiO2), and 1g (20 % of TiO2) against 5 g of anatase titania. Doctor blade coating was
used to coat the paste onto the FTO glass substrate. By doping carbon into the titania, the
cyclic voltammetry measurements showed the improved electrocatalytic activity towards
the reduction of triiodide ions in the redox mediator to regenerate the dye molecules
quickly, fast charge transfer rate, and low recombination rate in the redox mediator and in
the oxidized dye molecules. Meanwhile, the optimized ratio 15C-TiO2 CE in DSSC
showed an excellent 1.56% photo conversion efficiency, quite close to platinum's 2.12%
efficiency. By showing comparable electrocatalytic activity and photo conversion
efficiency, low-cost C-TiO2 CE (CE) is a promising substitute to replace the expensive
platinum CE in the DSSC.
