Facile synthesis of NiS nanowires via ion exchange reaction as an efficient counter electrode for dye-sensitized solar cells

Here we report a simple ion-exchange method to assemble one-dimensional NiS nanowires. This special synthesis process enables NiS nanowires to form a tightly connected network of transported electrons and a hierarchical porous structure with a large specific surface area. As a result, the counter electrode formed by the NiS nanowires exhibits both good electrical conductivity and excellent electrocatalytic activity. Actually, the novel NiS nanowires present a photovoltaic conversion efficiency of 7.56% as a counter electrode for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), which is 13.85% higher than that of the conventional Pt electrode, enabling them to be used as a cheap and efficient counter electrode material for replacing the traditional Pt electrode in DSSCs.