An Interconnected Ternary MIn₂S₄ (M=Fe, Co, Ni) Thiospinel Nanosheet Array: A Type of Efficient Platinum‐Free Counter Electrode for Dye‐Sensitized Solar Cells

Abstract

The ternary iron-group thiospinels of metal diindium sulfides (MIn S , M=Fe, Co, Ni) with a vertically aligned nanosheet array structure are fabricated through an in situ solvothermal method on F-doped tin oxide (FTO) substrates, which are employed as one type of platinum (Pt)-free counter electrodes (CEs) in structure-dependent dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). A DSSC assembled with ternary CoIn S CE achieves an photoelectric conversion efficiency (PCE) of 8.83 %, outperforming than that of FeIn S (7.18 %) and NiIn S (8.27 %) CEs under full sunlight illumination (100 mW cm , AM 1.5 G), which is also comparable with that of the Pt CE (8.19 %). Putting aside that the interconnected nanosheet array provides fast electron transfer and electrolyte diffusion channels, the highest PCE of CoIn S based DSSC results from its largest specific surface area (144.07 m g ), providing abundant active sites and the largest electron injection efficiency from CE to electrolyte.

van der Waals Epitaxial Growth of 2D Metal–Porphyrin Framework Derived Thin Films for Dye‐Sensitized Solar Cells

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nature, which cannot meet the increasing demand for its broad applications in DSSCs. [8,9] Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) represent a class of porous coordination polymers that consist of organic ligands linker by metal ions to form crystalline assemblies, [10,11] which have been widely investigated for their attractive physical and chemical properties. [8,9] Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) represent a class of porous coordination polymers that consist of organic ligands linker by metal ions to form crystalline assemblies, [10,11] which have been widely investigated for their attractive physical and chemical properties.

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An Intrinsically Conductive Phosphorus‐Doped Perovskite Oxide as a New Cathode for High‐Performance Dye‐Sensitized Solar Cells by Providing Internal Conducting Pathways

“…Thus, our report of PCE enhancement for C101‐based DSSC with SCP/MWCNTs cathode was credible. We also compared the performance of our SCP‐based cathode for I 3 − /I − ‐based DSSCs with respect to various state‐of‐the‐art Pt‐free cathodes, as shown in Figure b,c . The SCP/MWCNTs cathode in this study displayed better performance than most of the available Pt‐free cathodes in terms of PCE and PCE enhancement relative to a Pt cathode.…”

Effective iron-molybdenum-disulfide counter electrodes for use in platinum-free dye-sensitized solar cells

“…Moreover, FeS 2 /MoS 2 CE presents the highest J red compared with other CEs. The lowest E pp and the highest J red values demonstrate that the FeS 2 /MoS 2 CE presents more excellent electrocatalytic activity in the reduction of I 3 − /I − than other CEs, which might be attributed to the synergistic catalytic effect of FeS 2 and MoS 2 with superior electrocatalytic activity and high conductivity from the array structure [22,24,25]. Furthermore, the FeS 2 /MoS 2 with largely active surface area can further enhance the electrocatalytic activity, which will be discussed in the following part.…”

“…Another strategy is establishing vertical array structure to enhance the CE's conductivity and synthesizing nanocomposites by adjusting the component elements and alternating the stoichiometry to improve the electrocatalytic activity of CEs [21][22][23][24][25]. Yao et al [24] synthesized ZnS-CoS microcomposite which was employed as CE for DSSCs and exhibited a PCE of 6.11%.…”