Directly hydrothermal growth of antimony sulfide on conductive substrate as efficient counter electrode for dye-sensitized solar cells

Sb2S3 film was prepared on conductive substrate FTO via a facile process combining a hydrothermal procedure and post-annealing treatment, which was directly used as counter electrode (CE) for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Electrochemical characterizations demonstrate that the as-prepared Sb2S3 film exhibits sufficient electrocatalytic activity and stability for catalyzing the oxidation/reduction of triiodide to iodide. When used as CE in DSSCs, device using Sb2S3 CE that obtained after 24 h of hydrothermal reaction achieves a maximum power conversion efficiency of 5.37%, equal to that using Pt CE (5.36%). Our study thus provides a highly desirable approach for preparing cheap and highly efficient Pt-free CEs for DSSCs, which has avoided the complicated electrode deposition procedure and large amount of material consumption.