Abstract
A metalized plastic substrate made of a polyimide film coated with a Ni/Pt bi-layer is prepared as counterelectrode for dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC). Surface metallization of Ni/Pt on polyimide is carried out via a chemical process, where top Pt acts as the catalyst and bottom Ni is the conduction/light-reflection layer. This counterelectrode possesses superior sheet resistance (0.173 /) and charge transfer resistance (0.38 ω cm 2 ). The DSSC based on this metalized polyimide counterelectrode exhibits an enhanced fill factor (0.7), and accordingly its energy conversion efficiency achieves 7.12, which is better than those assembled with other platinized counterelectrodes prepared by sputtering. © 2011 The Electrochemical Society.