Preparation of Carbon Nanotube/TiO(2) Mesoporous Hybrid Photoanode with Iron Pyrite (FeS(2)) 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.