Bifacial dye-sensitized solar cells with transparent cobalt selenide alloy counter electrodes

High power conversion efficiency and cost-effectiveness are two persistent objectives for dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC). Electricity generation from either front or rear side of a bifacial DSSC has been considered as a facile avenue of bringing down the cost of solar-to-electric conversion. Therefore, the fabrication of a transparent counter electrode (CE) with a high electrocatalytic activity is a prerequisite to realize this goal. We present here the feasibility of utilizing transparent cobalt selenide (Co-Se) binary alloy counter electrode for bifacial DSSC application, in which binary Co-Se alloy electrode is synthesized by a mild solution strategy and the cell device is irradiated by either front or rear side. Due to the high optical transparency, charge-transfer ability, and electrocatalytic activity, maximum front and rear efficiencies of 8.30% and 4.63% are recorded under simulated air mass 1.5 (AM1.5) irradiation, respectively. The impressive efficiency along with fast start-up, multiple start capability, and simple preparation highlights the potential application of cost-effective and transparent Co-Se alloy CE in robust bifacial DSSCs. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.