Structural, Morphological and Electrochemical Characterization of Hydrothermally Fabricated PdNiCo and PdNiCo-rGO Alloys for Use as Counter Electrode Catalysts in DSSC

The hydrothermal fabrication and characterization of ternary palladium alloys PdNiCo and PdNiCo-rGO, which could be potential replacements to the expensive and corrosion susceptible platinum counter electrode in dye sensitized solar cells is hereby reported in this article. The synergy created by combining three metallic elements as well as the effect of carbon supports was investigated. The as-synthesized alloys consisted of agglomerated spherical particles. Comparison of the electrochemical analysis data showed that PdNiCo-rGO counter electrode could be a potential replacement for the platinum counter electrode with reduction current density, peak to peak potential difference, charge transfer resistance and power conversion efficiency of 21 mA∙cm−2, 0.12 mV, 0.726 Ω and 4.36% respectively.