Graphene-PtITO counter electrode to significantly reduce Pt loading and enhance charge transfer for high performance dye-sensitized solar cell

摘要

A graphene-PtITO (ITO-PG) counter electrode is fabricated by electrochemical deposition of a porous graphene film on a low-loaded PtITO electrode. Compared to both plain graphene and Pt films, the graphene-coated Pt composite film provides large and supe-rior conductive interface for significant improvement of Pt utilization efficiency and charge transfer, which in turn leads to higher power conversion efficiency of the dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC). As compared to conventional Pt-coated counter electrode, the Pt loading of ITO-PG electrode can be reduced by more than 60% to 1.9 μg cm~(-2) while achieving even better performance. The performance enhance-ment mechanism is proposed. This work renders an economical manufacturing process to fabricate high performance DSSC for potential commercial production.