High‐Performance Platinum‐Free Dye‐Sensitized Solar Cells with Molybdenum Disulfide Films as Counter Electrodes |
| |
| Authors: | Sajjad Hussain Dr. Shoyebmohamad F. Shaikh Dr. Dhanasekaran Vikraman Prof. Dr. Rajaram S. Mane Prof. Dr. Oh‐Shim Joo Prof. Dr. Mu Naushad Prof. Dr. Jongwan Jung |
| |
| Affiliation: | 1. Graphene Research Institute, Sejong University, Seoul, Republic of Korea;2. Institute of Nano and Advanced Materials Engineering, Sejong University, Seoul, Republic of Korea;3. Clean Energy Research Centre, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul, Republic of Korea;4. School of Science, University of Science and Technology, Daejeon, Republic of Korea;5. Department of Chemistry, College of Science, Bld-5, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia |
| |
| Abstract: | By using a radio‐frequency sputtering method, we synthesized large‐area, uniform, and transparent molybdenum disulfide film electrodes (1, 3, 5, and 7 min) on transparent and conducting fluorine‐doped tin oxide (FTO), as ecofriendly, cost‐effective counter electrodes (CE) for dye‐sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). These CEs were used in place of the routinely used expensive platinum CEs for the catalytic reduction of a triiodide electrolyte. The structure and morphology of the MoS2 was analyzed by using Raman spectroscopy, X‐ray diffraction, and X‐ray photoemission spectroscopy measurements and the DSSC characteristics were investigated. An unbroken film of MoS2 was identified on the FTO crystallites from field‐emission scanning electron microscopy. Cyclic voltammetry, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, and Tafel curve measurements reveal the promise of MoS2 as a CE with a low charge‐transfer resistance, high electrocatalytic activity, and fast reaction kinetics for the reduction of triiodide to iodide. Finally, an optimized transparent MoS2 CE, obtained after 5 min synthesis time, showed a high power‐conversion efficiency of 6.0 %, which comparable to the performance obtained with a Pt CE (6.6 %) when used in TiO2‐based DSCCs, thus signifying the importance of sputtering time on DSSC performance. |
| |
| Keywords: | dye-sensitized solar cells energy conversion MoS2 radio frequency sputtering thin films |
|
|
