Transparent MoS2/PEDOT Composite Counter Electrodes for Bifacial Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Tingting Xu; Dechong Kong; Huijie Tang; Xiulan Qin; Xuanhua Li; Ashim Gurung; Kaichang Kou; Lixin Chen; Qiquan Qiao; Wei Huang

doi:10.1021/acsomega.0c00175

Transparent MoS₂/PEDOT Composite Counter Electrodes for Bifacial Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

ACS Omega. 2020 Apr 9;5(15):8687-8696. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.0c00175. eCollection 2020 Apr 21.

Authors

Tingting Xu^{1

2}, Dechong Kong¹, Huijie Tang³, Xiulan Qin¹, Xuanhua Li³, Ashim Gurung⁴, Kaichang Kou¹, Lixin Chen¹, Qiquan Qiao⁴, Wei Huang²

Affiliations

¹ School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710129, China.
² Shaanxi Institute of Flexible Electronics (SIFE), Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710072, China.
³ School of Materials Science and Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710072, China.
⁴ Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, College of Engineering, South Dakota State University, Brookings, South Dakota 57007, United States.

Abstract

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) are solar energy conversion devices with high efficiency and simple fabrication procedures. Developing transparent counter electrode (CE) materials for bifacial DSSCs can address the needs of window-type building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPVs). Herein, transparent organic-inorganic hybrid composite films of molybdenum disulfide and poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (MoS₂/PEDOT) are prepared to take full advantage of the conductivity and electrocatalytic ability of the two components. MoS₂ is synthesized by hydrothermal method and spin-coated to form the MoS₂ layer, and then PEDOT films are electrochemically polymerized on top of the MoS₂ film to form the composite CEs. The DSSC with the optimized MoS₂/PEDOT composite CE shows power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 7% under front illumination and 4.82% under back illumination. Compared with the DSSC made by the PEDOT CE and the Pt CE, the DSSC fabricated by the MoS₂/PEDOT composite CE improves the PCE by 10.6% and 6.4% for front illumination, respectively. It proves that the transparent MoS₂/PEDOT CE owes superior conductivity and catalytic properties, and it is an excellent candidate for bifacial DSSC in the application of BIPVs.