Inkjet Printing of Low-Temperature Organo-Metallic Platinum Ink for Solid-State Dye Sensitized Solar Cells

InkJet printed platinum (Pt) films were deposited on glass and Fluoride Tin Oxide (FTO) substrates and processed at ultra-low temperatures (175 oC), with highly conductive films (1.2 ± 0.6 µΩ.m) obtained at 190 oC. Pt counter electrodes were then fabricated for novel solid-state Dye Sensitised Solar Cell (DSSC) application. Characterisation of morphology, resistivity and transmittance showed that transparent Pt thin films (16 nm) with comparable resistivity to that of high temperature treated films were produced on both glass and FTO; and an optimisation of counter electrode electrical resistivity was achieved. DSSCs fabricated using IJP Pt counter electrodes demonstrated comparable performance to DSSCs with doctor blade counter electrodes and suggested ink jet printing to be a viable fabrication at large scale.