Bi2S3 nanoparticles densely grown on electrospun-carbon-nanofibers as low-cost counter electrode for liquid-state solar cells

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) counter electrode (CE) is needed to have both good electrical conductivity and high catalytic activity, and composite materials are better meet these two requirements. In this work, Bi2S3/ carbon nanofiber (CNFs) composites are synthesized by simple electrospinning and hydrothermal methods, and after optimization of the content of Bi2S3, the large amount Bi2S3 nanoparticles are grown densely on CNFs without agglomeration. Bi2S3/CNFs composites are first introduced into DSSCs as CE. The optimized Bi2S3/CNFs composites are of great electrochemical performance and obtain a photoelectric conversion efficiency (PCE) of 7.64 %, which is better than common used Pt CE (7.12 %). Thus Bi2S3/CNFs CE has great prospects based on low cost and simple fabrication process to develop Pt-free CEs which could accelerate the large-scale application of DSSCs.