In this work the enhancement of dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) performance was
studied by developments of new counter electrode (CE) using a combination of three
different materials namely poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT), carbon-based
material (CBM; graphene oxide (GO), reduced graphene oxide (rGO), nanocrystalline
cellulose (NCC) and multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT)) and titanium dioxide
(TiO2). The counter electrode was prepared by coating indium tin oxide (ITO) glass
with TiO2 followed by deposition of PEDOT incorporated with different CBMs to
produce novel CEs with high performance. Among the CEs PEDOT-NCC/TiO2
exhibited the highest PCE of 2.10 % compared to PEDOT-MWCNT/TiO2 (1.29 %),
PEDOT-rGO/TiO2 (1.10 %) and PEDOT-GO (1.17 %). PEDOT-NCC/TiO2 also
displayed a lower charge transfer resistance (Rct = 2.4 Ω) and higher cathodic peak
current density (Icp = -2.60 mA.cm-2) compared to other CEs due to the synergistic
effect of high conductivity of PEDOT, high surface area and high optical transparency
of NCC and porous structure of TiO2 that provide large surface area. The impact of this
study in photovoltaic technology is to produce an efficient and low cost CE that
capable to substitute a typical CE in DSSC which is platinum that is expensive and rare
metal. The future plan can be pursued by producing a flexible CE to increase its
application in various fields
