A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF GRAPHENATED-CARBON NANOTUBES COTTON AND CARBON NANOTUBES AS CATALYSTS FOR COUNTER ELECTRODE IN DYE-SENSITIZED SOLAR CELLS

Yusnita Yusuf; Suhaidi Shafie; Ismayadi Ismail; Fauzan Ahmad; Mohd Nizar Hamidon; Shyam S. Pandey; Nazalea Yazmin Muhammad; Wei Lei

Yusnita Yusuf Universiti Putra Malaysia
Suhaidi Shafie Universiti Putra Malaysia
Ismayadi Ismail Universiti Putra Malaysia
Fauzan Ahmad Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
Mohd Nizar Hamidon Universiti Putra Malaysia
Shyam S. Pandey Kyushu Institute of Technology
Nazalea Yazmin Muhammad Universiti Putra Malaysia
Wei Lei Southeast University China

Keywords: dye-sensitized solar cells, counter electrodes, carbon-based, graphenated-carbon nanotubes cotton

Abstract

This work reports a comparative study of synthesized graphenated-carbon nanotubes cotton (g-CNTC), standard carbon nanotubes (CNTP), and conventional platinum (Pt) thin layer which are employed as the counter electrodes in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC). The g-CNTC was synthesized via the floating-catalyst chemical vapor deposition (FCCVD) method. Subsequently, the g-CNTC was made into a uniform paste and deposited for the counter electrode layer. The results obtained from FESEM/TEM, Raman spectroscopy, CV and I-V measurements respectively exposed the structural, graphitization and I-V characteristics. Briefly, the morphology of g-CNTC showed the growth of graphene foliates out-sidewalls of CNT with a diameter of 40 nm. The graphitization of g-CNTC showed two dominant peaks namely the D (1355 cm^-1) and G (1608 cm^-1) bands with strong intensities. The g-CNTC counter electrode provided good electrical conductivity (3.66×10^-3to 6.45×10^-3S/cm), which is a significant feature to employ counter electrodes to enhance DSSC performance. In addition, the g-CNTC counter electrode offered an excellent catalytic activity for iodide/triiodide reaction and exhibited 3.49 % of photovoltaic conversion energy, which was much higher compared to CNTP (2.93 %) and platinum (3.12 %), respectively.