A carbon gel catalyst layer for the roll-to-roll production of dye solar cells

• Published in: Carbon (New York) Vol. 49; no. 2; pp. 528 - 532
• Main Authors: Miettunen, Kati, Toivola, Minna, Hashmi, Ghufran, Salpakari, Jyri, Asghar, Imran, Lund, Peter
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 01.02.2011; Elsevier
• Subjects: Carbon; Catalysis; Catalysts; Chemistry; cost effectiveness; Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science; rheology; dyeing; Dyes; Electrodes; Exact sciences and technology; Flexibility; Fullerenes and related materials; diamonds, graphite; gels; General and physical chemistry; glass; Low cost; Materials science; Photovoltaic cells; Physics; plastics; platinum; production costs; Solar cells; Specific materials; temperature; Theory of reactions, general kinetics. Catalysis. Nomenclature, chemical documentation, computer chemistry; Electrodes; Dyes; Catalysts; Glass; Carbon; Flexibility; Substrates; Low temperature
• ISSN: 0008-6223; 1873-3891
• DOI: 10.1016/j.carbon.2010.09.052

Carbon gel catalyst layers were used in dye solar cells. These layers were prepared on flexible plastic substrates at low temperatures (130 °C). The carbon gel, demonstrated excellent flexibility which is an important feature for roll-to-roll production and special applications of dye solar cells. The use of these low cost and highly flexible catalyst layers resulted in good photovoltaic performance; only 10% lower than dye solar cells with rigid glass-based counter electrodes prepared with thermal platinization at ∼400 °C temperature.