A new in-situ preparation method to CuS electrodes for CdS/CdSe co-sensitized solar cells

•A new and simple in-situ preparative method for CuS electrodes.•Suitable for different substrates.•TiCl4 pre-treatment to improve mechanical stabilities between CuS and substrates.•Improvement of CuS particles interconnection by TiCl4 post-treatment.•Up to 4.59% of efficiency is achieved.

A new in-situ preparation method to CuS electrodes has been developed by the combination of TICl4 treatment and chemical bath deposition (CBD). It is found that TiCl4 pre-treatment toward the substrates and post-treatment toward the CuS films are the key to high quality CuS films. Two kinds of CuS electrodes are obtained on Ti sheet and fluoride-doped SnO2 conductive glass (FTO), respectively. I-E polarization analysis and electrochemical impedance spectra reveal that this kind of CuS electrodes exhibits good interfacial electron transfer property and electrocatalytic activity. Up to 4.59% of light-to-electricity conversion efficiency has been achieved for CdS/CdSe -sensitized solar cells with our as-prepared CuS counter electrodes.

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