Preparation of Carbon Nanotube/TiO2 Mesoporous Hybrid Photoanode with Iron Pyrite (FeS2) Thin Films Counter Electrodes for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell

Multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT)/TiO 2 mesoporous networks can be employed as a new alternative photoanode in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). By using the MWCNT/TiO 2 mesoporous as photoanodes in DSSC, we demonstrate that the MWCNT/TiO 2 mesoporous photoanode is promising alternative to standard FTO/TiO 2 mesoporous based DSSC due to larger specific surface area and high electrochemical activity. We also show that iron pyrite (FeS 2 ) thin films can be used as an efficient counter electrode (CE), an alternative to the conventional high cost Pt based CE. We are able to synthesis FeS 2 nanostructures utilizing a very cheap and easy hydrothermal growth route. MWCNT/TiO 2 mesoporous based DSSCs with FeS 2 CE achieved a high solar conversion efficiency of 7.27% under 100 mW cm −2 (AM 1.5G 1-Sun) simulated solar irradiance which is considerably (slightly) higher than that of A-CNT/TiO 2 mesoporous based DSSCs with Pt CE. Outstanding performance of the FeS 2 CE makes it a very promising choice among the various CE materials used in the conventional DSSC and it is expected to be used more often to achieve higher photon-to-electron conversion efficiencies.