| Abstract |
| Palladium (Pd) nano films were deposited at different thicknesses of 34, 46, and 90 nm by sputtering for use as the counter electrode (CE) in dye sensitized solar cell (DSSC). Conventional Pt layers were also prepared using the same process for comparison. Finally 0.45 cm2 DSSCs employing the Pd or Pt CE were prepared, and their photovoltaic properties and microstructure were examined by cyclic voltammetry (CV), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), current-voltage (I-V), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) characterization. CV showed that the catalytic activity of Pd was lower than that of Pt. Moreover, the catalytic activity of Pd increased with increasing thickness. Impedance analysis revealed huge charge transfer resistance at the Pd interface that decreased with increasing Pd thickness. Pt showed low resistance without a thickness dependence. The I-V result of the DSSC device employing Pd and Pt revealed a mean energy conversion efficiency of 4.32% and 6.57%, respectively. TEM showed that the Pd films were not deposited conformally compared to Pt films. The uneven microstructure of the Pd film can lead huge interface resistance and low efficiency. These results suggest that Pd can be used as the counter electrode in DSSCs instead of conventional Pt but the Pd film uniformity needs to be improved. |
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| Key Words |
| Pd, solar cells, sputter, nano electrode |
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