NiS submicron cubes with efficient electrocatalytic activity as the counter electrode of dye-sensitized solar cells

In this work, nickel sulfide (NiS) submicron cubes, synthesized by an easy hydrothermal method, were investigated as an efficient electrocatalytic material of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), to our knowledge, for the first time. Part of the NiS submicron cubes were grown together in a hydrothermal procedure and formed the connected submicron cube cluster. The NiS submicron cubes (with a diameter of 300–800 nm) showed excellent electrocatalytic activity and presented superior photovoltaic performance when it was used as an electrocatalytic material for the counter electrode (CE) of DSSCs. The CE composed of the NiS submicron cubes could achieve a photovoltaic efficiency of 6.4%, showing their superior performance compared with the typical Pt electrode (which with the corresponding conversion efficiency was 5.3% at the same condition). The low-cost NiS submicron cube electrode could be a competitive candidate to replace the traditional Pt electrode in DSSCs. The simple composition procedure of NiS submicron cubes could enable the low-cost mass production of an efficient NiS submicron cube electrode to be easily accomplished.