Sculptured platinum nanowire counter electrodes for dye-sensitized solar cells

•Pt sculptured thin films (STFs) fabricated by electron beam evaporator.•The STFs featured higher roughness and lower charge transfer resistance.•Improved performance of dye-sensitized solar cells by Pt STFs counter electrodes.

Sculptured platinum nanowire thin films were formed by oblique angle electron beam evaporation with a 5° vapor incidence angle and incorporated as counter electrodes for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). For the comparison of the performance, bare fluorine doped tin oxide, planar Pt electrodes and counter electrodes treated with chloroplatinic acid were prepared. The sculptured Pt nanowire electrodes showed five times lower charge transfer resistance (0.121 [Ω∗cm2]) than that of Pt planar electrode (0.578 [Ω∗cm2]) and when the Pt nanowire electrodes are treated with an H2PtCl6 solution have more than ten times lower charge transfer resistance (0.04025 [Ω∗cm2]). Moreover, Pt nanowire films used as a counter electrode lead to enhancement in current density and efficiency in comparison with Pt planar counter electrodes. The conversion efficiency with planar electrodes was 5.1 [%] while the efficiency of DSSC with platinum nanowire counter electrodes reached to 5.63 [%] under AM 1.5 illumination.