title: Iron pyrite thin film counter electrodes for dye-sensitized solar cells: high efficiency for iodine and cobalt redox electrolyte cells.
abstract: Iron pyrite has been the material of interest in the solar community due to its optical properties and abundance. However, the progress is marred due to the lack of control on the surface and intrinsic chemistry of pyrite. In this report, we show iron pyrite as an efficient counter electrode (CE) material alternative to the conventional Pt and poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene (PEDOT) CEs in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Pyrite film CEs prepared by spray pyrolysis are utilized in I3(-)/I(-) and Co(III)/Co(II) electrolyte-mediated DSSCs. From cyclic voltammetry and impedance spectroscopy studies, the catalytic activity is found to be comparable with that of Pt and PEDOT in I3(-)/I(-) and Co(III)/Co(II) electrolyte, respectively. With the I3(-)/I(-) electrolyte, photoconversion efficiency is found to be 8.0% for the pyrite CE and 7.5% for Pt, whereas with Co(III)/Co(II) redox DSSCs, efficiency is found to be the same for both pyrite and PEDOT (6.3%). The excellent performance of the pyrite CE in both the systems makes it a distinctive choice among the various CE materials studied.
authors.affiliation: Energy Research Institute, Interdisciplinary Graduate School, ‡School of Materials Science and Engineering, §Energy Research Institute, ∥Division of Physics and Applied Physics, School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, and ⊥NOVITAS, Nanoelectronics Centre of Excellence, School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Nanyang Technological University , Singapore 639798.
authors.forename: Sudhanshu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shukla
authors.forename: Nguyen Huu
authors.initials: NH
authors.lastname: Loc
authors.forename: Pablo P
authors.initials: PP
authors.lastname: Boix
authors.forename: Teck Ming
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Koh
authors.forename: Rajiv Ramanujam
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Prabhakar
authors.forename: Hemant K
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Mulmudi
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Shi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Chin Fan
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: Ng
authors.forename: Cheng Hon Alfred
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Huan
authors.forename: Nripan
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Mathews
authors.forename: Thirumany
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sritharan
authors.forename: Qihua
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Xiong
keywords: counter electrode; dye-sensitized solar cells; iron pyrite; spray pyrolysis