Thermally Deposited Palladium-Tungsten Carbide and Platinum-Tungsten Carbide Counter Electrodes for a High Performance Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell Based on Organic T-/T-2 Electrolyte

摘要

Tungsten carbide (WC) particles (similar to 1 mu m) were dispersed in DI water and dropped onto conductive glass. The resulting WC films were used as dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) counter electrodes. The performance of the WC DSSC based on the organic thiolate/disulfide (T-/T2) electrolyte was 0.78%. The cell efficiency was greatly improved after decorating, palladium (Pd) or platinum (Pt) nanoparticles on WC particles with a promising efficiency of 2.15% for Pd WC DSSC and 4.62% for Pt WC DSSC. The efficiency improvement of the composited (Pd WC and Pt WC) cells is attributed to co-functioning catalysts, the large electrode interfacial area and a low charge-transfer resistance at the electrolyte/counter electrode interface.