Browsing by Author "Vittal, R."

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A counter electrode based on hollow spherical particles of polyaniline for a dye-sensitized solar cell
(2012)
Huang, Kuan-Chieh
;
Hu, Chih-Wei
;
Tseng, Chen-Ya
;
Liu, Chen-Yu
;
Yeh, Min-Hsin
Hollow spherical polyaniline (hsPANI) particles are synthesized and deposited on an ITO/glass substrate to prepare a counter electrode (designated as hsPANI-CE) for a dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC). The structure and crystallization of the hsPANI particles are characterized by using high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM), field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), X-ray diffractometry (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and Raman spectra. A power-conversion efficiency (h) of 6.84% is obtained for the DSSC with the hsPANI-CE, while it is 6.02% in the case of the DSSC with a CE based on pristine PANI (designated as PANI-CE). Such enhancement is attributed to the hsPANI film having a larger active surface area (A) of 0.191 cm(2), compared to that of the PANI film (A = 0.126 cm(2)), both values being estimated by a rotating disk electrode (RDE). Cyclic voltammetric (CV) curves have evidenced that the electro-catalytic ability of the hsPANI-CE for the reduction of tri-iodide (I-3(-)) ions is higher than that of the PANI-CE. As a reference, the DSSC with a Pt-sputtered CE gives an h of 7.17%. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopic (EIS) spectra are used to substantiate the photovoltaic behaviors. The results suggest that the film consisting of hsPANI particles can be a potential catalytic layer for the replacement of Pt in the CE of a DSSC.
Conducting polymer-based counter electrode for a quantum-dot-sensitized solar cell (QDSSC) with a polysulfide electrolyte
(2011-12-15)
Yeh, Min-Hsin
;
Lee, Chuan-Pei
;
Chou, Chen-Yu
;
Lin, Lu-Yin
;
Wei, Hung-Yu
Conducting polymer materials, i.e., polythiophene (PT), polypyrrole (PPy), and poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) were used to prepare counter electrodes (CEs) for quantum-dot-sensitized solar cells (QDSSCs). The QDSSC with PEDOT-CE exhibited the highest solar-to-electricity conversion efficiency (eta) of 1.35%, which is remarkably higher than those of the cells with PT-CE (0.09%) and PPy-CE (0.41%) and very slightly higher than that of the cell with sputtered-gold-CE (1.33%). Electrochemical impedance spectra (EIS) show that this highest conversion efficiency of the PEDOT-based cell is due to higher electrocatalytic activity and reduced charge transfer resistance at the interface of the CE and the electrolyte, compared to those in the case of the cells with other conducting polymers and bare Au. Furthermore, the influences of morphology of the PEDOT film and the charge passed for its electropolymerization on the performance of its QDSSC were also studied. The higher porosity and surface roughness of the PEDOT matrix, with reference to those of other polymers are understood to be the reason for PEDOT to possess higher electrocatalytic activity at its interface with electrolyte. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.