International Journal of Advanced and Applied Sciences

Int. j. adv. appl. sci.

EISSN: 2313-3724

Print ISSN:2313-626X

Volume 3, Issue 7  (July 2016), Pages:  35-40


Title: Application of dye sensitized solar cell (DSSC) from dammar carbon ‐ Fe2O3 (Iron (III) Oxide) composite counter electrode

Authors:  Mohd H. Selamat 1, Azizah H. Ahmad 1, 2, *

Affiliations:

1Faculty of Applied Sciences, Universiti Teknologi MARA, 40450 Shah Alam, Selangor D.E., Malaysia

2Institute of Science, Universiti Teknologi MARA, 40450 Shah Alam, Selangor D.E., Malaysia

http://dx.doi.org/10.21833/ijaas.2016.07.006

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Abstract:

Huge interests in usage of organic carbon in preparing counter electrode for DSSC have increased extensively among the researchers. Composite-electrode using hydrocarbon of Dammar (Canarium strictum) (D) and Iron (III) Oxide Carbon nanoparticles (Fe2O3) were prepared as counter electrode (CE) for DSSC evaluation. Dammar rosin was chosen because of high carbon content and when combined with Fe2O3 under oxidation synthesis, the composite was found suitable to become as catalyst in DSSC counter electrode. Therefore, the use of composite electrode in exchange of Platinum (Pt) as a counter electrode is greener approach for DSSC advancement. The low cost organic CE composite was applied on flexible substrate using Blade technique to form thin films on conductor. The DSSC cells were fabricated using CE produced and referred as Pt and D-carbon-Fe2O3 for characterization. Thin films embedded in thick film substrate were cured at room temperature (25°C) with eased method approach. The conversion efficiency of the incident-photon-electrical-conversion efficiency (IPCE) was obtained as high as 6.7% for composite D-carbon Fe2O3 with fill factor (FF) of 0.64 while Pt system was obtained an efficiency of 6.5% with 0.66 FF. XRD test has revealed that the composite has been broaden from crystalline in structure to semi-crystalline with organic compounds shown in the spectra.  The Electrical Impedance (EIS) test was carried out and the electrode performance has shown suitable for conductive catalyst in DSSC counter electrode with conductivity range of 10-4 S.cm-1.. 

© 2016 The Authors. Published by IASE.

This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Keywords: Activated carbon, Metal oxides, Composite, Iron (III) oxide, Dammar, Electrical impedance, Counter electrode

Article History: Received 17 May 2016, Received in revised form 10 July 2016, Accepted 11 July 2016

Digital Object Identifier: http://dx.doi.org/10.21833/ijaas.2016.07.006

Citation:

Selamat MH and Ahmad AH (2016). Application of dye sensitized solar cell (DSSC) from dammar carbon ‐ Fe2O3 (Iron (III) Oxide) composite counter electrode. International Journal of Advanced and Applied Sciences, 3(7): 35-40

http://www.science-gate.com/IJAAS/V3I7/Selamat.html


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