Enhanced electrocatalytic properties in MoS2/MoTe2 hybrid heterostructures for dye-sensitized solar cells

In this work, the hybrid bilayer of molybdenum disulfide (MoS2)/molybdenum telluride (MoTe2) was constructed on fluorine-doped fin oxide glass (FTO), and dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) employing the material as counter electrode (CE) were implemented. The thickness of each layer of MoS2 and MoTe2 was tuned by changing the sputtering time to enhance DSSC performance. The DSSC with the MoS2/MoTe2 hybrid CE, exhibited a maximum power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 8.07% (6% for MoS2 and 7.25% for MoTe2 CE), and was comparable to one with N CE (8.33%). The observed good result of the MoS2/MoTe2 hybrid CE is ascribed to the synergistic properties between MoS2 and the metallic phase of MoTe2.