Enhancement of photovoltaic performance using a novel photocathode based on poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)/Ag–CuO nanocomposite in dye-sensitized solar cells

Abstract

A novel counter electrode (CE) based on a silver and copper oxide nanocomposite is developed and characterized by XRD and FE-SEM. A polymeric system containing poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) is employed as the conductive polymer to prepare a transparent CE for a dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) device. Electrochemical analysis is used to study the catalytic activity of the reduction of triiodide ions in different DSSC-based CEs. To study the effect of photoelectrode modification on charge-transfer resistance, alternating current impedance spectroscopy is carried out. Power conversion efficiency and short-circuit current density ($J_{\mathrm{SC}}$) increase from 8.01% to 9.06% and 16.18 to 17.79 mA/cm2, respectively, due to the significantly improved electrical conductivity and electrocatalytic activity of the novel PEDOT/Ag–CuO nanocomposite-based CE.

Keywords

• Counter electrode
• Alternating current impedance spectroscopy
• Dye-sensitized solar cells
• CuO nanocomposite