01695nas a2200217   4500008004100000022001400041245008100055210006900136260000800205300001400213490000600227520098600233653002201219653001601241653001801257653002301275100002401298700001901322700003001341856010601371       2018                        eng d  a2365-654900aSilk cocoon as counter - electrode substrate in dye - sensitized solar cells0 aSilk cocoon as counter electrode substrate in dye sensitized sol  cJUL  a7195-71990 v33 a<p>Electrodes are vital components of energy conversion devices such as dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The widely used electrodes consist of fluorine doped tin oxide (FTO) and platinum. We were interested in identifying a substrate that is available from natural resources and exhibit performance comparable to that of Pt coated FTO (Pt-FTO). Silk fibers are naturally available and they are mechanically stable. The woven silk fibers are known as silk cocoons (SCs) that structurally resemble widely used carbon paper electrodes. To impart conductivity to the insulating SCs, metal film was coated by an electroless metal plating procedure using polyphenols from green tea. The metal coated SCs were conformaly coated with a conjugated polymer and these electrodes were used as flexible electrodes in DSSCs. The flexible electrode based DSSCs exhibited a power conversion efficiency of 7.2% which is comparable to that of the DSSCs with rigid Pt-FTO based devices (7.4%).</p>10acounter electrode10aPEDOT-G-SCs10aRecombination10aSilk cocoons (SCs)1 aSudhakar, Vediappan1 aDas, Chayanika1 aKrishnamoorthy, Kothandam  uhttps://library.ncl.res.in/content/silk-cocoon-counter-electrode-substrate-dye-sensitized-solar-cells