We previously developed poly-N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone (PVP)-capped Pt nanoclusters on ITO glass via a simple "2-step dip coating process" as counter electrode for DSSC This new counter electrode was examined by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), cyclic voltammetry (CV). and current-voltage curve (I-V curve) The TEM results revealed that PVP-capped Pt nanoclusters' size is about 3 not, and the amount of Pt deposited on ITO glass is about 5 mu g/cm(2) Comparing with sputtered Pt and Solaronix thermal cluster Pt-catalyst T/SP, the PVP-capped Pt counter electrode has lower amount of Pt deposited on TCO glass, more positive potential of tri-iodide reduction, and better performance for the charge-transfer resistance (R-CT) and the cell efficiency (eta) (C) 2009 Elsevier B V All rights reserved