The Counter Electrode Impact on Quantum Dot Solar Cell Efficiencies

Kumar, P N and Kolay, A and Kumar, S K and Patra, P K and Aphale, A N and Srivastava, A K and M, Deepa (2016) The Counter Electrode Impact on Quantum Dot Solar Cell Efficiencies. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 8 (41). pp. 27688-27700. ISSN 1944-8244

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Abstract

The counter electrode (CE), despite being as relevant as the photoanode in a quantum dot solar cell (QDSC), has hard-ly received the scientific attention it deserves. In this study, nine CEs: single walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs), tungsten oxide (WO3), poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT), copper sulfide (Cu2S), candle soot, functionalized multiwalled carbon nanotubes ( F- MWCNTs), reduced tungsten oxide (WO3-x), carbon fabric (C-Fabric), and C-Fabric/WO3-x were prepared by using low cost components and facile procedures. QDSCs were fabricated with a TiO2/CdS film which served as a common photoanode for all CEs. The power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) were: 2.02, 2.1, 2.79, 2.88, 2.95, 3.78, 3.66, 3.96, and 4.6 % respectively, and the incident photon to current conversion efficiency re-sponse was also found to complement the PCE response. Among all CEs employed here, the C-Fabric/WO3-x outper-forms all the other CEs, for the synergy between C-Fabric and WO3-x comes to the fore during cell operation. The (i) low sheet resistance of C-Fabric, and its’ high surface area due to the mesh like morphology, enables high WO3-x load-ing during electrodeposition, and (ii) the good electrocatalytic activity of WO3-x, the very low overpotential and its high electrical conductivity that facilitate electron transfer to the electrolyte, are responsible for the superior PCE. WO3 based electrodes have not been used till date in QDSCs; the ease of fabrication of WO3 films, and their good chem-ical stability and scalability also favor their application to QDSCs. Futuristic possibilities for other novel composite CEs are also discussed. We anticipate this study to be useful for a well-rounded development of high performance QDSCs.

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