Performance Analysis of Carbon-doped Titania Counter Electrode for Dye Sensitized Solar Cells /

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.