Characterization of porous carbon nanofibers decorated with Pt catalysts for use as counter electrodes in dye-sensitized solar cells

Abstract

Porous carbon nanofibers decorated with Pt catalysts (Pt/PCNFs) are prepared by electrospinning and impregnation methods. To synthesize the PCNF, poly(styrene-co-acry-lonitrile) (SAN), a pore-forming agent, is added to polyacrylonitrile (PAN), the carbon nanofiber (CNF) precursor. With regard to photovoltaic properties, Pt/PCNFs fabricated using the optimum amount of 0.5 wt% SAN polymer exhibit a larger open circuit voltage (V-oc) of 0.73 V, a higher fill factor (FF) of 66.57%, and an excellent photoconversion efficiency (eta) of 6.47% compared to carbon nanofibers decorated with Pt catalysts (Pt/CNFs) and commercial Pt solutions under standard test conditions (100 mW/cm(2) (1 sun); AM 1.5G spectrum).