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)/TiO₂ mesoporous networks can be employed as a new alternative photoanode in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). By using the MWCNT/TiO₂ mesoporous as photoanodes in DSSC, we demonstrate that the MWCNT/TiO₂ mesoporous photoanode is promising alternative to standard FTO/TiO₂ mesoporous based DSSC due to larger specific surface area and high electrochemical activity. We also show that iron pyrite (FeS₂) 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/TiO₂ mesoporous based DSSCs with FeS₂ 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/TiO₂ mesoporous based DSSCs with Pt CE. Outstanding performance of the FeS₂ 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.