Transparent nickel selenide used as counter electrode in high efficient dye-sensitized solar cells

• A transparent Ni0.85Se is prepared by a facile solvothermal reaction.
• Ni0.85Se electrode has better electrocatalytic activity than Pt electrode.
• DSSC with Ni0.85Se electrode obtains efficiency of 8.88%, higher than DSSC with Pt.
• DSSC with Ni0.85Se/mirror electrode achieves an efficiency of 10.19%.

A transparent nickel selenide (Ni0.85Se) is prepared by a facile solvothermal reaction and used as an efficient Pt-free counter electrode (CE) for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Field emission scanning electron microscopy observes that the as-prepared Ni0.85Se possesses porous structure. Cyclic voltammogram measurement indicates that Ni0.85Se electrode has larger current density than Pt electrode. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy shows that the Ni0.85Se electrode has lower charge-transfer resistance than Pt electrode. Under simulated solar light irradiation with intensity of 100 mW cm−2 (AM 1.5), the DSSC based on the Ni0.85Se CE achieves a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 8.88%, which is higher than the solar cell based on Pt CE (8.13%). Based on the transparency of Ni0.85Se, the DSSC with Ni0.85Se/mirror achieves a PCE of 10.19%.

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