Highly catalytic nickel sulfide counter electrode for dye-sensitized solar cells

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) have been the epicenter of attention for past few decades as a potentially cost-effective substitute for silicon-based solar cells. In DSSCs, the counter electrode (CE) plays a pivotal role in amassing electrons from the external circuit and catalyzing the I-3(-) reduction in the electrolyte. In this paper, the development of nickel sulfide (NiS) CEs for DSSCs are studied, emphasizing significant crescendos that assure economical, competent, and stable DSSC systems. Specially, we pinpoint on the design of highly efficient NiS CE, including design ideas, fabrication approaches and characterization techniques that serve as practical replacements to conventional noble metal Pt electrodes. DSSC fabricated with the NiS CE achieved a power conversion efficiency of 5.69% under 1 sunlight illumination (100 mW cm(-2), AM 1.5 G). (C) 2015 Elsevier BM. All rights reserved.