Enhanced Electrochemical Catalytic Efficiencies of Electrochemically Deposited Platinum Nanocubes as a Counter Electrode for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Platinum nanocubes (PtNCs) were deposited onto a fluorine-doped tin oxide glass by electrochemical deposition (ECD) method and utilized as a counter electrode (CE) for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). In this study, we controlled the growth of the crystalline plane to synthesize the single-crystal PtNCs at room temperature. The morphologies and crystalline nanostructure of the ECD PtNCs were examined by field emission scanning electron microscopy and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. The surface roughness of the ECD PtNCs was examined by atomic force microscopy. The electrochemical properties of the ECD PtNCs were analyzed by cyclic voltammetry, Tafel polarization, and electrochemical impedance spectra. The Pt loading was examined by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. The DSSCs were assembled via an N719 dye-sensitized titanium dioxide working electrode, an iodine-based electrolyte, and a CE. The photoelectric conversion efficiency (PCE) of the DSSCs with the ECD PtNC CE was examined under the illumination of AM 1.5 (100 mWcm−2). The PtNCs in this study presented a single-crystal nanostructure that can raise the electron mobility to let up the charge-transfer impedance and promote the charge-transfer rate. In this work, the electrocatalytic mass activity (MA) of the Pt film and PtNCs was 1.508 and 4.088 mAmg−1, respectively, and the MA of PtNCs was 2.71 times than that of the Pt film. The DSSCs with the pulse-ECD PtNC CE showed a PCE of 6.48 %, which is higher than the cell using the conventional Pt film CE (a PCE of 6.18 %). In contrast to the conventional Pt film CE which is fabricated by electron beam evaporation method, our pulse-ECD PtNCs maximized the Pt catalytic properties as a CE in DSSCs. The results demonstrated that the PtNCs played a good catalyst for iodide/triiodide redox couple reactions in the DSSCs and provided a potential strategy for electrochemical catalytic applications.