Abstract
Pt-free TiC based electrodes were hydrothermally deposited onto FTO/glass substrates and used as dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) counter electrodes. A promising efficiency of 3.07% was obtained from the annealed hydrothermal TiC DSSCs based on a disulfide/thiolate electrolyte. A pronounced improvement in performance of 3.59% was achieved by compositing TiC with carbon, compared to that of a Pt DSSC, 3.84%. TEM analysis detected that the TiC particle surfaces were coated by thin carbon layer (7 nm). The SAED pattern and Raman spectrum of TiC-carbon films suggested that the carbon layer was composed of amorphous and graphite carbon. The formation of graphite on the TiC nanoparticles plays a crucial role in enhancing the film’s reduction current to 10.12 mA/cm2 and in reducing the film impedance to 237.63 Ω, resulting in a high efficiency of the TiC-carbon DSSC.
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Towannang, M., Kumlangwan, P., Maiaugree, W. et al. High efficiency organic-electrolyte DSSC based on hydrothermally deposited titanium carbide-carbon counter electrodes. Electron. Mater. Lett. 11, 643–649 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13391-015-4411-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13391-015-4411-8