Optically transparent counter electrode for dye-sensitized solar cells based on cobalt sulfide nanosheet arrays

Review on polymer electrolyte in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs)

“…However, carbon and its allotropes have disadvantages in the poor electrocatalytic activity but it can be compensated by increasing the active surface area of the catalytic layer by depositing thick and porous films over the substrate (Jena et al, 2012). Other low cost materials that have been reported are conducting polymers; poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) based composite (Lee et al, 2010cMaiaugree et al, 2012;Wei et al, 2014), polyaniline (PANI) (Bay et al, 2006;Tang et al, 2013) and polypyrrole (Ki Hwang et al, 2014;Tang et al, 2013;Xia et al, 2011), nitrides based (Wu et al, 2011) and recently sulfides based materials such as iron sulfides, FeS 2 (Chen et al, 2014;Wang et al, 2013), copper sulfides, CuS (Chen et al, 2014), cobalt sulfides, CoS (Kung et al, 2012;Tai et al, 2013), Cu 2 ZnSnS 4 (Bai et al, 2013;Xin et al, 2011;Xu et al, 2012;Wozny et al, 2013;Zhang et al, 2014) has also gained a lot of attention as a future counter electrode layer in DSSC. However, back to the main concerns; all of them have a poor electrocatalytic activity as compared to nanoparticles Pt.…”

Low-cost solution processed nano millet like structure CoS2 film superior to pt as counter electrode for quantum dot sensitized solar cells

“…[4] Pt plays a vital role as a CE due to its high conductivity, chemical stability and catalytic activity. [5,6] However, the high cost and the corrosion of Pt into the I − /I 3 − redox electrolyte are considered as major obstacles for attaining long-term stability in DSSCs. [7] Also, the reported energy conversion efficiency of DSSCs is still inferior to that of the conventional Si and thin-films solar cells.…”

Cobalt sulfide counter electrodes enhanced by a hydro-thermal treatment for use in platinum-free dye-sensitized solar cells

“…[20,31]. Whereas, the peaks at around 19.2, 37.9, and 57.8 can be indexed as the planes of (0 0 1), (1 0 1), and (11 0) from the Co(OH) 2 , respectively [27]. And the observed characteristic diffraction pattern at 44.3 can be detected as the contribution from Co [32].…”

“…Lin et al [26] electrodeposited CoS CEs by a facile cyclic voltammetry (CV) technique to supersede the Pt CE in DSSCs, and achieved 6.33% of the DSSC efficiency. Furthermore, Tai et al [27] firstly electrodeposited Co(OH) 2 nanosheet arrays on the FTO glass by a CV method, and then conversed it to CoS by soaking in a chemical bath containing Na 2 S, finally achieved a DSSC efficiency of 6.39%. Recently, we reported that the H 2 S hydro-thermal treatment could enhance the catalytic activity and stability of the NiS CE, which was electrodeposited by a CV method [28].…”