Synthesis, Characterization and Optimization of Hydrothermally Fabricated Binary Palladium Alloys PdNi(x) for Use as Counter Electrode Catalysts in Dye Sensitized Solar Cells

The hydrothermal synthesis, characterization and optimization of binary palladium alloys PdNi(x) is hereby presented in this work. Comparison of the reduction capability of the developed PdNi(x) alloys intended for use as alternative counter electrode catalysts in dye sensitized solar cells was made relative to the standard platinum counter electrode catalyst as well as the carbon supported PdNi-rGO sample. Optimization was accomplished through varying the molar ratio of the reagents. The unsupported PdNi(3) sample produced the highest catalytic efficiency with reduction current density, peak to peak potential difference and charge transfer resistance of 35 mA cm(−2), 0.15 mV and 0.47 Ω respectively. Obtained results show that the unsupported PdNi(3) alloy was catalytically more effective than the platinum and PdNi-rGO thus could be a viable replacement in dye sensitized solar cell counter electrodes.