title: Utility of Pt in PtNi alloy counter electrodes as a new avenue for cost effective and highly efficient liquid junction photovoltaic devices.
abstract: This study presents the synthesis of PtNi alloys with different volume ratios of Pt and Ni precursors in mixture solutions using dry plasma reduction under atmospheric pressure and low temperature. The developed materials are applied as efficient counter electrodes (CEs) in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs). The investigation of the Pt utility in PtNi alloys for electrocatalytic activity, and cost effective and highly efficient DSCs are also investigated. Compared with the reference electrodes (Pt and Ni CEs), the developed PtNi alloy CEs exhibit better reversibility as indicated by the peak-to-peak separation and better catalytic activity for the regeneration of iodide ions from triiodide ions. Thus, the DSC with the developed PtNi CEs provides higher efficiency than that of the device fabricated with the reference electrodes.
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Advanced Circuit Substrate Engineering, Chungnam National University, Daejeon 305-764, South Korea.
authors.forename: Kyung-Ho
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Bae
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, Chungnam National University, Daejeon 305-764, South Korea. Electronic address: duongdaovan@cnu.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Van-Duong
authors.initials: VD
authors.lastname: Dao
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Advanced Circuit Substrate Engineering, Chungnam National University, Daejeon 305-764, South Korea; Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, Chungnam National University, Daejeon 305-764, South Korea. Electronic address: hchoi@cnu.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Ho-Suk
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Choi
keywords: Counter electrode; Dry plasma reduction; Dye-sensitized solar cells; Pt utility; PtNi alloy