Highly active and reflective MoS2 counter electrode for enhancement of photovoltaic efficiency of dye sensitized solar cells

Till now, the counter electrode (CE) material for dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) has been developed by improving the conductivity and electrocatalytic activity of the material. This work proposes a new technique to further enhance the exploration of advanced CE materials. In the new technique the reflectivity of the CE material (MoS2 based) is increased by vertically inclining the MoS2 on the substrate (FTO). The MoS2 is synthesized through chemical vapor deposition (CVD), which eliminates the complicated CE fabrication process. As a result, the CE possesses high reflectivity which facilitates the absorbance of more photons, and also leads to create more active edge sites exposed to I-/I-3(-) redox couple in the electrolyte. This technique yields an efficiency of approximately 7.5% which excels that of the Pt based (7.28%) electrodes. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.