Synthesis of a novel MoIn2S4 alloy film as efficient electrocatalyst for dye-sensitized solar cell

A petal-like MoIn2S4 thin film with excellent performance was synthesized on conductive fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) substrate through the hydrothermal method. The MoIn2S4 thin film with 0.169 g InCl3 exhibited the most excellent electrocatalytic activity and lowest charge transfer resistance of 19.90 Omega cm(-1) among the various MoIn2S4 samples in I-/I3- redox couple, which was confirmed through a series of electrochemical investigations. The photoelectric conversion efficiency for the DSSC served the MoIn2S4 thin film as counter electrode achieved 6.51% under 100 mW.cm(-2) illumination, which was a little better than that of the DSSC assembled with the Pt (6.39%) electrode. This research demonstrates that the petal-like MoIn2S4 counter electrode with simple preparation process, excellent electrocatalytic activity and efficient photoelectric conversion efficiency is a promising alternative to the conventional Pt electrode in DSSCs.