ZnO nanowires/N719 dye/polypyrrole-SWNTs nanocomposite solid state dye sensitized solar cells

We had designed and fabricated high efficiency solid state dye sensitized solar cells based on vertical ZnO nanowires arrays by utilizing a mixture paste of LiI, PMII and solid iodine as electrolyte. Polypyrrole-single wall carbon nanotube (PPy-SWNTs) nanocomposites were synthesized on FTO glass by in situ polymerization and employed as counter electrode to replace the conventionally used expensive Pt electrode. Our initial results showed the power conversion efficiency of 1.87 % from the device with PPy-SWNTs nanocomposite coated on FTO glass as counter electrode.