Produce of graphene/iron pyrite (FeS2) thin films counter electrode for dye-sensitized solar cell

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) provide a low cost alternative to the conventional solar cells due to their easy and inexpensive device fabrication steps. Generally, F:SnO2 (FM) conductive glass with a thin layer coating of platinum (Pt) is used as a counter electrode (CE) in DSSCs. Since Pt is rare and therefore expensive metal, we were looking for a way to produce a new counter electrode based on graphene/iron pyrite (FeS2) thin films as an alternative to the Pt:FTO. In combination with a TiO2 mesoporous photo anode and an I-3(-)/I- redox electrolyte, graphene/FeS2 CE based DSSC shows eta =7.43% energy conversion efficiency under 1 sun illumination (100 mW/cm(2), AM 1.5G) which is approximately 16.1% higher than conventional Pt CE (eta=6.40%). External Quantum Efficiency (EQE) is found to be shifted upward when graphene/FeS2 is used as CE in the place of Pt CE. The excellent performance of the graphene/FeS2 CE makes it a very promising alternative to costly Pt in DSSCs. (C) 2016 Published by Elsevier B.V.