Effect of Electrochemical Properties and Optical Transmittance of Carbon Nanotubes Counter Electrodes on the Energy Conversion Efficiency of Dye-sensitized Solar Cells

Abstract

In this work, electrochemical characteristics and optical transmittance of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) counter electrodes which had different amount of CNTs in CNTs slurries were analyzed. Two-step heat treatment processes were applied to achieve well-fabricated CNTs electrode. Three sets of CNTs electrodes and dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) with CNTs counter electrodes were prepared. As the amount of CNTs increased, sheet resistance of CNTs electrode decreased. CNTs electrode with low sheet resistance had low electrochemical impedance and fast redox reaction. On the other hand, in case of CNTs counter electrode with low density of CNTs, performance of the dye-sensitized solar cell was improved due to its high optical transmittance. We found that the transmittance of CNTs counter electrode influence the performance of dye-sensitized solar cells.