Application of carbon materials as counter electrodes of dye-sensitized solar cells

Hard carbon spherule (HCS) has been investigated as a counter electrode for dye-sensitized solar cells. The overall conversion efficiency of the cell reached 5.70% which is comparable to 6.50% of the counter electrode of platinum-sputtered fluorine-doped tin oxide used in Gratzel-type solar cells under the same experimental condition. It is found that the photovoltaic performance was strongly affected by the specific surface areas of the carbon materials. (C) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.