Incorporation of Nanostructured Carbon Composite Materials into Counter Electrodes for Highly Efficient Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Table 1 Photovoltaic performance of DSSCs based on different catalytic materials stacked on the surface of CEs of DSSCs

Catalytic materials in CEs*	SSA* (m² g^− 1)	Thickness (μm)	J_sc* (mA cm^− 2)	V_oc* (V)	FF*	PCE* (%)	R_rec*(Ω)	R_ce*(Ω)	τ_e* (ms)
CNP*	24.70	20.85	17.18	0.50	0.25	0.22	354.10	117.93	2.20
CNP/GF*	252.12	21.12	11.54	0.68	0.61	4.72	15.86	3.30	6.34
GF	269.51	21.23	11.72	0.69	0.62	4.93	13.10	2.50	7.96
MWCNT*/GF	303.76	23.21	11.14	0.70	0.69	5.37	10.90	2.39	9.05
CNP/MWCNT/GF	305.60	23.56	11.90	0.67	0.67	5.49	9.13	1.00	11.54
MWCNT	311.83	21.80	12.28	0.67	0.69	5.50	9.06	0.34	12.63
CNP/MWCNT	356.73	22.82	11.75	0.70	0.69	5.67	8.00	0.14	15.31
Pt	–	–	11.93	0.71	0.67	5.70	7.80	2.88	11.20

*Note: CE counter electrode, CNP carbon nanoparticle, GF grapheme flake, MWCNT multiwalled carbon nanotube, SSA specific surface area, J_sc: short circuit current, V_oc open circuit voltage, FF fill factor, PCE power conversion efficiency, R_rec recombination resistance, R_ce resistance of counter electrode, τ_e electron lifetime