**3.3 CNT based cathode in DSSC**

In recent years, carbon-based materials, such as graphite, carbon black, and carbon nanotubes, have been studied to replace traditional platinum (Pt) counter

**Figure 9.** *CNT based electrolyte for DSSC application.*

*Improvement of Efficiency of Dye Sensitized Solar Cells by Incorporating Carbon Nanotubes DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.96630*

electrodes for low-cost DSSC. Carbon materials are not only abundant but also highly resistant to corrosion. Carbon-based material, especially CNT, has attracted considerable interest because of its fast electron transfer kinetics and large surface area. **Figure 10** shows a basic schematic of a CNT based counter electrode for DSSC.

Different methods have been explored for CNT based counter electrode. Nam et al. used paste printing and CVD growing methods for the counter electrode. The paste printing MWCNT based counter electrode based DSSC has lower cell efficiency (8.03%) than the Pt. counter electrode based DSSC's cell efficiency (8.80%). However, the CVD has grown MWCNT had higher cell conversion efficiency (10.04%) than the Pt. counter electrode based DSSC's cell efficiency (8.80%) [40]. Ramasamy et al. fabricated spray-coated MWCNT counter electrode and showed the effect of spray time/coating thickness [41]. Widodo also fabricated spray-coated CNT on FTO glass substrate for counter electrode for DSSC [42]. Prasetio et al. used different weight (0.01, 0.02 and 0.04 gram) of CNT and observed the cell performance of DSSC [43]. **Figure 11** illustrates the SEM of (a) the surface and (b) the cross-section CNT based counter electrode [43].
