Research On DSSC Performance Of Metal Substrates And Catalyst Of Counter Electrode

Dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) is a new type of photo electrochemical solar cell. With high energy conversion efficiency and lower cost, DSSCs have obtained worldwide attention which shows great application prospect. The Photo Electrode and Counter Electrode are the most important components in DSSC. To achieve roll-to-roll mass production, the high efficiency and low cost substrates become the heart of the matter. Using a thin metal sheet as an electrode substrate is appealing since in addition to flexibility they have superior conductivity compared to transparent conducting oxide (TCO) layers used on glass. Due to the high corrosiveness for some metals, the cell's stability sharply reduced. In this paper, the stability of dye solar cells with different kinds of metals as the photoelectrode substrate is studied. Stainless steels, Inconel and Titanium substrates were tested in order to find the most stable substrate options. When metal is used as photoelectrode,the light illuminate the cell through the counter electrode,therefore Pt concentration has significant impact on the property of platinized counter electrode as well as the performance of the dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC). Here the effects of Pt film concentration on Conversion efficiency were investigated. Meanwhile, in order to reduce the cell production cost,we also researched carbon material.The main conclusion of this dissertation are listed as following:â‘ It was detected that all the cells with photoelectrodes deposited on different types of stainless steels degraded in a matter of hours under illumination. Inconel and Titanium based DSSCs demonstrated good stability in the one month long light soaking test.â‘¡10mmol / L was the best Pt concentration illuminated through the CE;open circuit voltage and energy conversion efficiencies at first increased and then decreased with the increase in the Pt concentration. Platinum concentration has magnificent influence on the charge transfer resistance (RCE) , RCE first decreased along with the decrease of the Platinum concentration, but when the Platinum concentration is less than 10mmol/L, RCE increased with Platinum concentration decreased. At the same time short-circuit current decreased.â‘¢Use Carbon Black(CB), Graphite(G), Activated Carbon(AC) and Pt/Carbon black Counter Electrode(CE) as catalysts. The experiment indicated that carbon black performs optimal among the material. With the large specific surface area and superior conductivity of unity. Further study showed that Pt/Carbon black counter electrode is the best with lower cost while the conversion efficiency is higher than platinum.