MoS2/Ni-CoSx porous nanocubes derived from Ni–Co prussian-blue analogs as enhanced Pt-free electrode catalysts for high-efficiency dye-sensitized solar cells

Owing to the modifiable compositions and morphologies, high-efficiency clean energy catalysts with complex functional structures attract wide-ranging attention. Herein, this report focuses on the controllably morphological MoS 2 -doped NiS 2 /Co 3 S 4 nanocubes which are derived from nickel-cobalt Prussian-blue analogs. After annealing in N 2 flow, MoS 2 /Ni-CoS x porous nanocubes are prepared via regulating the reactant ratios (1/2, 1/1 and 2/1) between (NH 4 ) 2 MoS 4 and Ni–Co Prussian-blue analogs. In the synthesis progress, (NH 4 ) 2 MoS 4 is applied as a bifunctional dopant source, which can expediently offer Mo and S elements simultaneously. The quaternary porous MoS 2 /Ni-CoS x (1/1) with the reasonable chemical composition, considerable specific surface area (86.7 m 2  g −1 ) and excellent electrocatalytic property can be selected as the representative counter electrode catalyst in dye-sensitized solar cells. Furthermore, the solar cell with MoS 2 /Ni-CoS x (1/1) exhibits a higher power conversion efficiency (9.80%) than that of Pt (8.19%) under a standard irradiation.