title: High-Performance Platinum-Free Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells with Molybdenum Disulfide Films as Counter Electrodes.
abstract: By using a radio-frequency sputtering method, we synthesized large-area, uniform, and transparent molybdenum disulfide film electrodes (1, 3, 5, and 7 min) on transparent and conducting fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO), as ecofriendly, cost-effective counter electrodes (CE) for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). These CEs were used in place of the routinely used expensive platinum CEs for the catalytic reduction of a triiodide electrolyte. The structure and morphology of the MoS2 was analyzed by using Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and X-ray photoemission spectroscopy measurements and the DSSC characteristics were investigated. An unbroken film of MoS2 was identified on the FTO crystallites from field-emission scanning electron microscopy. Cyclic voltammetry, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, and Tafel curve measurements reveal the promise of MoS2 as a CE with a low charge-transfer resistance, high electrocatalytic activity, and fast reaction kinetics for the reduction of triiodide to iodide. Finally, an optimized transparent MoS2 CE, obtained after 5 min synthesis time, showed a high power-conversion efficiency of 6.0 %, which comparable to the performance obtained with a Pt CE (6.6 %) when used in TiO2 -based DSCCs, thus signifying the importance of sputtering time on DSSC performance.
authors.affiliation: Graphene Research Institute, Sejong University, Seoul, 143-747, Republic of Korea.|Institute of Nano and Advanced Materials Engineering, Sejong University, Seoul, 143-747, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Sajjad
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hussain
authors.affiliation: Clean Energy Research Centre, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul, Republic of Korea.|School of Science, University of Science and Technology, 52 Eoeun dong, Yuseonggu, Daejeon, 305-333, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Shoyebmohamad F
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Shaikh
authors.affiliation: Graphene Research Institute, Sejong University, Seoul, 143-747, Republic of Korea.|Institute of Nano and Advanced Materials Engineering, Sejong University, Seoul, 143-747, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Dhanasekaran
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Vikraman
authors.affiliation: Clean Energy Research Centre, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul, Republic of Korea.|Department of Chemistry, College of Science, Bld-5, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Rajaram S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Mane
authors.affiliation: Clean Energy Research Centre, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul, Republic of Korea.|School of Science, University of Science and Technology, 52 Eoeun dong, Yuseonggu, Daejeon, 305-333, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Oh-Shim
authors.initials: OS
authors.lastname: Joo
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, College of Science, Bld-5, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Mu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Naushad
authors.affiliation: Graphene Research Institute, Sejong University, Seoul, 143-747, Republic of Korea. jwjung@sejong.ac.kr.|Institute of Nano and Advanced Materials Engineering, Sejong University, Seoul, 143-747, Republic of Korea. jwjung@sejong.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Jongwan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jung
keywords: MoS2; dye-sensitized solar cells; energy conversion; radio frequency sputtering; thin films