Platinum-free materials as cathode for dye-sensitized solar cells: a brief review

This article reviews the use of various types of platinum (Pt)-free materials as cathode for dye-sensitized solar cell. The materials such as conducting polymers, alloys, metal sulphide, metal nitride and metal selenide have been applied as a cathode in the device using TiO₂ photoanode, Ru-based dye and a liquid electrolyte containing I^–/I₃^– for Pt substitution. The use of binary, ternary and quaternary metal chalcogenides has been highlighted in this review. The efficiency of the device with those materials has been compared with that of Pt-based device counterparts. The electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, cyclic voltammetry, Tafel parameters and also incident-photon conversion efficiency correlating with power conversion efficiency have been discussed.