In-situ growth NiMoS3 nanoparticles onto electrospinning synthesis carbon nanofibers as a low cost platinum-free counter electrode for dye-sensitized solar cells

Abstract Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) possess a recent explosion of interest because of its high efficiency, low cost and good stability. It is important to finely optimize the catalytic of the electrode to achieve better performance. In this paper, we fabricate the transition metal sulfide composites (NiMoS3/CNFs) by electrospinning and vulcanization method. The combination of transition metal sulfide and carbon nanofibers can provide highly electrocatalysts for counter electrode (CE) of DSSCs. Remarkably, DSSCs prepared by this CE have much higher catalytic activity and stable durability than Platinum (Pt) CE. The power conversion efficiency (PCE) of DSSCs use NiMoS3/CNFs CEs is 8.70%, outperforming the value of Pt CE (7.53%). It demonstrates that the NiMoS3/CNFs CEs exhibited potential reference for next generation CE materials in DSSCs.