Journal
JOURNAL OF NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY
Volume 12, Issue 11, Pages 8323-8329Publisher
AMER SCIENTIFIC PUBLISHERS
DOI: 10.1166/jnn.2012.6681
Keywords
Au Nanoparticles; Microwave; Counter Electrode; Carbon Nanotube; Solar Cells
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Funding
- Sophisticated Analytical Instrumentation facility Indian Institute of Technology Madras (SAIF-IITM)
- Department of Science and Technology (DST, India)
- Defense Research Development Organization (DRDO, India)
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A novel counter electrode material for dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) composed of nanostructured Au particles decorated on functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes (f-MWNTs) is demonstrated for the first time. MWNTs synthesized by catalytic chemical vapor deposition technique are purified and functionalized by treating with concentrated acids. Au nanoparticles are decorated on f-MWNTs by a rapid and facile microwave assisted polyol reduction method. The materials are characterized by X-ray diffractometry, Fourier transform infra red spectroscopy and electron microscopy. The DSSC fabricated with Au/f-MWNTs based counter electrode shows enhanced power conversion efficiency (eta) of 4.9% under AM 1.5G simulated solar radiation. In comparison, the reference DSSCs fabricated with f-MWNTs and Pt counter electrodes show eta of 2.1% and 4.5%. This high performance of Au/f-MWNTs counter electrode is investigated using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and cyclic voltammetry studies.
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