In-situ growth of antimony sulfide in carbon nanoparticle matrix: Enhanced electrocatalytic activity as counter electrode in dye-sensitized solar cells.

Considering the undesirable electrocatalytic activity toward I − /I 3 − redox system of prinstine antimony sulfide (Sb 2 S 3 ) fabricated with the existing conditions, a mesoporous carbon nanoparticle film (CNP) is introduced here for in-situ growth of Sb 2 S 3 to construct a Sb 2 S 3 @CNP hybrid catalyst. Based on a Sb-thiourea precursor solution, in-situ growth of Sb 2 S 3 can be achieved via solution deposition (denoted as Sb 2 S 3 @CNP-S) as well as atmospheric pressure thermal evaporation (denoted as Sb 2 S 3 @CNP-T) in CNP matrix. Structural characterizations indicate that Sb 2 S 3 particles have well dispersed in the pores of CNP matrix. Because of the introduction of porous and conductive CNP matrix to support Sb 2 S 3 , the hybrid catalyst exhibits lower charge transfer resistance at the catalyst/electrolyte interface and higher electrocatalytic activity. When used as counter electrode (CE) for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), devices using Sb 2 S 3 @CNP hybrid catalyst as CE produce fill factor of 67.6% and 66.3%, which is significantly higher than that using pristine Sb 2 S 3 fabricated in our previous work (52.8%). Finally, the corresponding power conversion efficiencies reach 6.69% (Sb 2 S 3 @CNP-S) and 6.24% (Sb 2 S 3 @CNP-T), respectively, which are comparable to that using Pt CE measured under the same conditions (6.74%). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]