A carbon gel catalyst layer for the roll-to-roll production of dye solar cells

Abstract

Carbon gel catalyst layers were used in dye solar cells. These layers were prepared on flexible plastic substrates at low temperatures (130 °C). The carbon gel, demonstrated excellent flexibility which is an important feature for roll-to-roll production and special applications of dye solar cells. The use of these low cost and highly flexible catalyst layers resulted in good photovoltaic performance; only 10% lower than dye solar cells with rigid glass-based counter electrodes prepared with thermal platinization at ∼400 °C temperature.