Influences of sintering temperature on low-cost carbon paste based counter electrodes for dye-sensitized solar cells

In this paper we have demonstrated the photovoltaic performance of dye-sensitized solar cells with low-cost carbon paste (CP) based counter electrodes. With sintering CP at 300 °C, the overall conversion efficiency of cells can reach 4.9%, which is comparable to 5.7% of the cells with counter electrode of platinum. After sintering, crystalline quality of CP was improved, resulting in the decrease of series resistance of cells and the increase of the work function of CP. We also showed that the reduction rate of triiodide is significantly enhanced due to the increase of surface area of CP and the energy matching between the reduction potential of triiodide and the work function of CP.