Influence of Electrolyte Composition on the Photovoltaic Performance and Stability of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells with Multiwalled Carbon Nanotube Catalysts

Citations Over TimeTop 10% of 2010 papers

Abstract

Efficient dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) were realized by using multiwalled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) as the counter-electrode catalyst. The catalytic layers were produced from an aqueous paste of mass-produced raw CNTs with carboxymethylcellulose polymer by low-temperature (70 degrees C) drying. We found that the highly disordered CNTs played the important role of increasing the fill factor of DSCs with electrolytes including large molecules and that the presence of Li(+) as the counter charges for I(3)(-)/I(-) redox couples reduced the chemical stability when using the CNT catalyst. Our experiments showed that by replacing the conventional Pt catalyst and Li(+)-based electrolyte with the proposed CNT catalyst and an electrolyte containing 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium cations instead of Li(+), the energy conversion efficiency increased from 6.51% to 7.13%. This result suggests that highly defective CNT catalysts prepared by low-temperature drying are viable cost-effective alternatives for DSCs, as long as the electrolytes composition is optimized.

Related Papers

• → A comparative study of dye-sensitized solar cells added carbon nanotubes to electrolyte and counter electrodes(2010)105 cited
• → The impressive effect of eco-friendly carbon dots on improving the performance of dye-sensitized solar cells(2019)61 cited
• → Modification of TiO2 Nanowire Arrays with Sn Doping as Photoanode for Highly Efficient Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells(2019)24 cited
• → An Investigation on the Stability Enhancement of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells Fabricated with Ethyl Cellulose Based Gel Electrolyte(2021)4 cited
• Electrolyte Optimization in Dye-sensitized Solar Cells(2005)