NixSy/NiSe2 Hybrid Catalyst Grown In Situ on Conductive Glass Substrate as Efficient Counter Electrode for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Ni x S y /NiSe 2 hybrid nanoparticle film grown in situ on F-doped SnO 2 (FTO) glass is synthesized by a gentle solvothermal method and used as efficient counter electrode for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The two-step strategy involving sulfuration and subsequent selenization reaction using nickel hydroxide as the precursor can effectively avoid the film cracking and detaching thus to obtain a uniform hybrid nanoparticle film with rich catalytic active sites and good electron transport ability. The electrocatalytic activity of hybrid catalyst compared with single NiSe 2 and Ni x S y is investigated in detail by cyclic voltammetry (CV), electrochemical impedance spectra (EIS) and Tafel polarization measurements. Due to the synergistic effect of different components, the hybrid Ni x S y /NiSe 2 exhibits higher electrocatalytic performance for I 3 − reduction. As a result, the DSSCs with Ni x S y /NiSe 2 hybrid electrode shows an impressive higher short circuit photocurrent and power conversion efficiency (8.64%) than that with Ni x S y (7.95%) and NiSe 2 (7.47%) counter electrodes, just a little bit inferior to Pt (9.01%), which indicates that this new kind of material can work as a promising alternative low-cost catalyst for DSSCs or other electrocatalytic applications.