A Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell Using a Composite of PEDOT:PSS and Carbon Derived from Human Hair for a Counter Electrode

Carbon derived from hair is interesting because it has good electrocatalytic activity due to the existence of innate heteroatom dopants especially nitrogen and sulfur. In this study, a carbon catalyst containing high nitrogen contents (9.47 at.%) was fabricated without using any harsh chemicals. Moreover, the carbonization temperature was only 700 degrees C. Carbonized hair/PEDOT:PSS composites (CxP) with varied carbon contents from x = 0.2 to 0.8 g were tested as a counter electrode (CE) for a dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC). This type of DSSC CE has scarcely been investigated. A DSSC with a C0.6P CE provides the best efficiency (6.54 +/- 0.11%) among all composite CEs because it has a high fill factor (FF) and a high short-circuit current density (J(sc)). The efficiency of DSSC with C0.6P CE is lower than Pt's (7.29 +/- 0.01%) since the Pt-based DSSC has higher FF and J(sc) values. However, C0.6P is still promising as a DSSC CE since it is more cost-effective than Pt.