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Growth of aligned multiwalled carbon nanotube arrays film on stainless steel substrates for electrode applications

FENGSHI CAI1,2,* , JING WANG1, ZHIHAO YUAN1,2, XUELI DU1,3

Affiliation

  1. Nanomaterial & Nanotechnology Research Center, Tianjin University of Technology, Tianjin 300384, P R China
  2. Key Laboratory of Display Materials and Photoelectric Devices (Tianjin University of Technology), Ministry of Education of China, Tianjin 300384, P R China
  3. Tianjin Key Lab for Photoelectric Materials & Devices, Tianjin 300384, P R China

Abstract

The aligned multiwalled carbon nanotube (AMWCNT) films were grown on stainless steel (StS) substrates by low temperature chemical vapor deposition. Their properties and application as novel, low cost and highly efficient counter electrodes for dye sensitized solar cells (DSCs) were investigated. Due to high catalytic activity of the AMWCNT films and good conductivity of StS substrates, an overall light-to-electricity conversion efficiency of 7.03% is obtained for the DSCs based on AMWCNT/StS electrode under AM 1.5 irradiation (100 mW cm−2 ). The stability test at moderate conditions indicated the good stability of the AMWCNT/StS electrode in the electrolyte containing iodide/triiodide. The results demonstrate a potential alternative to the expensive noble metal Pt/FTO in future applications of DSCs..

Keywords

Dye-sensitized solar cells, Aligned multiwalled carbon nanotube arrays, Counter electrodes, Light-to-electricity conversion efficiency, Stainless steel substrates.

Submitted at: Feb. 14, 2012
Accepted at: April 11, 2012

Citation

FENGSHI CAI, JING WANG, ZHIHAO YUAN, XUELI DU, Growth of aligned multiwalled carbon nanotube arrays film on stainless steel substrates for electrode applications, Journal of Optoelectronics and Advanced Materials Vol. 14, Iss. 3-4, pp. 267-271 (2012)