Transparent counter electrode from palladium selenide for bifacial dye-sensitized solar cell

Aiming at reducing fabrication cost without sacrificing power conversion efficiency (PCE) of dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC), transparent palladium selenide (Pd-Se) alloys are prepared by a cyclic voltammetric electrodeposition and utilized as counter electrodes (CEs) in bifacial DSSCs. The electrocatalytic activities of Pd-Se alloy CEs with adjustable stoichiometries are investigated, yielding an optimized alloy electrode at Pd7Se4. The PCE of the bifacial DSSC based on Pd7Se4 alloy CE shows front and rear efficiencies of 6.70% and 2.38% in comparison with 6.43% and 0.01% from pyrolytic platinum based solar cell, respectively. The results demonstrate that the Pc17Se4 alloy CE can serve as a good candidate for CE in DSSCs application. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.