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Conductive glass was coated with multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) by a hydrothermal method. MWCNTs films were subsequently used as dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) counter electrodes. The performance of hydrothermal MWCNT DSSC was ∼2.37%. After film annealing in an Ar atmosphere, annealed-hydrothermal MWCNT (AHT-CNT) DSSC efficiency was significantly increased to ∼7.66%, in comparison to ∼8.01% for sputtered-Pt DSSC. Improvement of AHT-CNT DSSC performance is attributed to a decrease in charge-transfer resistance from 1500 Ω to 30 Ω as observed by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy.

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This work presents a novel route for utilizing waste from power plants to create a new power source (solar cells). Bottom ash (BA) ceramic micro-particles were studied to improve an electrocatalytic activity in solar cell applications for the first time. In the counter electrodes (CE) of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC), bottom ash was mixed with PEDOT:PSS (PP) and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) (BA/PP/PVP) in volume ratios of 3:7, 4:6, 5:5, and 6:4. We found that bottom ash has a significant impact in improving the electrocatalytic activity and DSSC efficiency of these cells. Moreover, the PP and PVP ratios have a high impact on solar cell performance. The BA/PP/PVP-(6:4) counter electrode attained a higher DSSC efficiency, 2.70%, compared to the other electrodes prepared under similar conditions and a Pt CE based DSSC (3.23%) at AM 1.5 (100 mWcm-2). The influences of bottom ash and PP/PVP ratios on film structure, electrocatalytic activity in reduction, redox reaction rate, and electron transport were characterized using scanning electron micros copy, cyclic voltammetry, Tafel, and, electrical impedance spectroscopy, respectively. The results show that low-cost BA/PP/PVP-(6:4) CE is a promising new alternative to Pt CEs in DSSCs.

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