Metal selenide films as the counter electrode in dye-sensitized solar cell

• The development of a low-cost, highly efficient electrocatalyst for the counter electrode in dye-sensitized solar cells is vital.
• NiSe2 counter electrode is found to be as efficient as Pt among various metal selenides.
• NiSe2 is further compared with its sulfide counterpart, NiS2.
• Electrochemical investigation reveals that NiSe2 is superior to NiS2 due to smaller interfacial resistance.

Various metal selenides were directly deposited on conductive glass and evaluated as counter electrodes (CEs) for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Among the metal selenide films, NiSe2, CoSe2, and MoSe2 were electrocatalytically active for I3− reduction, and, in particular, NiSe2 was as efficient as the traditional Pt electrocatalyst. In comparison to its sulfide analog (NiS2), NiSe2 also exhibited a much better solar cell performance, which was ascribed to lower resistances to charge transfer and diffusion of electrolyte.

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