TiO2 Nanofibers Doped With NiS as Photoanode to Improve the Photovoltaic Conversion Efficiency of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Nickel sulfide (NiS) particles with a hollow microsphere structure were prepared by a hydrothermal method. NiS/titanium dioxide nanofibers (NiS/TiO
₂
NFs) were prepared by the addition of NiS into TiO
₂
nanofibers (NFs) through electrospinning. There were two methods to modify the photoanodes of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). One was a mixture of NiS particles into a TiO
₂
layer of photoanode. The other was to cement NiS/TiO
₂
NFs onto the TiO
₂
layer of the photoanode. The DSSCs with the two kinds of modified photoanodes were compared with the DSSCs without modification. The results prove that the DSSC with NiS/TiO
₂
NFs photoanode has photovoltaic conversion efficiency (PCE) of 5.63%. It is 40.75% higher than that of the DSSCs without modification. It is due to the increased specific surface area of the hollow microsphere structure of NiS and the NiS/TiO
₂
NFs provide higher porosity to increase the dye adsorption. NiS can also reduce the transmission resistance in the DSSCs.