Highly catalytic nickel sulfide counter electrode for dye-sensitized solar cells

•Efficient optimized NiS counter electrode for dye sensitized solar cell.•Nickel sulfide shows superior electrocatalytic activity than the conventional Pt.•The power conversion efficiency of 5.69% with NiS CE based DSSCs.

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) have been the epicenter of attention for past few decades as a potentially cost-effective substitute for silicon-based solar cells. In DSSCs, the counter electrode (CE) plays a pivotal role in amassing electrons from the external circuit and catalyzing the I3− reduction in the electrolyte. In this paper, the development of nickel sulfide (NiS) CEs for DSSCs are studied, emphasizing significant crescendos that assure economical, competent, and stable DSSC systems. Specially, we pinpoint on the design of highly efficient NiS CE, including design ideas, fabrication approaches and characterization techniques that serve as practical replacements to conventional noble metal Pt electrodes. DSSC fabricated with the NiS CE achieved a power conversion efficiency of 5.69% under 1 sunlight illumination (100 mW cm−2, AM 1.5 G).

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