Preparation of platinum-free tubular dye-sensitized solar cells by electrophoretic deposition

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Published: Oct 26, 2016
Keywords:
Tubular dye-sensitized solar cell Platinum-free solar cell Electrophoretic deposition Carbon nanotubes PEDOT-PSS

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Khwanchit Wongcharee
Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Mahanakorn University of Technology, Bangkok 10530, Thailand
Tammanoon Udomman
Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Mahanakorn University of Technology, Bangkok 10530, Thailand
Vissanu Meeyoo
Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Mahanakorn University of Technology, Bangkok 10530, Thailand
Keatisak Suttakat
Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Mahanakorn University of Technology, Bangkok 10530, Thailand
Thanawut Sangphookhei
Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Mahanakorn University of Technology, Bangkok 10530, Thailand

Abstract

Tubular dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) were developed by replacing expensive materials with those of lower cost as follows: (1) substituting conductive glass electrodes for titanium (Ti) wires, and, (2) use of a mixture of multi-walled carbon nanotubes, MWCNTs and poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)-poly(styrenesulfonate), and PEDOT-PSS in place of a platinum (Pt) catalyst.  Platinized counter electrodes were used as the standard counter electrodes for comparison. The effects of the chemical treatment of a titanium wire substrate and electrophoretic deposition conditions on the efficiency of the resulting DSSCs were also investigated. Chemical treatment of titanium wires was done by soaking the wires in HF-HNO3 solutions at three different concentrations, 0.8, 1.6 and 2.4 M, for three different soaking durations, 5, 10 and 15 min. The optimal condition was found to be a HF-HNO3 concentration of 0.8 M and a soaking duration of 10 min. Film coating on working electrodes was performed using an electrophoretic technique at three different voltages, 5, 8 and 10 V, and four different coating durations, 1, 3, 5 and 7 min.  Then, the optimal voltage of 5 V and deposition duration of 5 min was applied for film deposition on counter electrodes. The efficiency of the resulting DSSC with a CNTs/TiO2 counter electrode was 0.03%. The addition of PEDOT-PSS improved the efficiency of this DSSC to 0.08%.

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How to Cite
Wongcharee, K., Udomman, T., Meeyoo, V., Suttakat, K., & Sangphookhei, T. (2016). Preparation of platinum-free tubular dye-sensitized solar cells by electrophoretic deposition. Engineering and Applied Science Research, 43(4), 178–183. Retrieved from https://ph01.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/easr/article/view/49017
Issue
Vol. 43 No. 4 (2016)
Section
ORIGINAL RESEARCH

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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