Effects of mesoscopic poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) films as counter electrodes for dye-sensitized solar cells

Counter electrode coated with chemically polymerized poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) in a dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) was studied. The surface morphology and the nature of I^-/I₃^- redox reaction based on PEDOT film were investigated using Atomic Force Microscopy and Cyclic Voltammetry, respectively. The performance of the DSSCs containing the PEDOT coated electrode was compared with sputtered-Pt electrode. We found that the root mean square roughness decreases and conductivity increases as the molar ratio of imidazole (Im)/EDOT in the PEDOT film increases. The DSSC containing the PEDOT coated on fluorine doped tin oxide glass with Im/EDOT molar ratio of 2.0, showed a conversion efficiency of 7.44% compared to that with sputtered-Pt electrode (7.77%). The high photocurrents were attributed to the large effective surface area of the electrode material resulting in good catalytic properties for I₃^- reduction. Therefore, the incorporation of a multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) in the PEDOT film, coated on various substrates was also investigated. The DSSC containing the PEDOT films with 0.6 wt.% of MWCNT on stainless steel as counter electrode had the best cell performance of 8.08% with short-circuit current density, open-circuit voltage and fill factor of 17.00 mA cm^-2, 720 mV and 0.66, respectively.