2D‐Layered MoS 2 ‐Incorporated TiO 2 ‐Nanofiber‐ Based Dye‐Sensitized Solar Cells

Abstract Atomically thin layers of molybdenum disulfide (MoS 2 ) were examined to facilitate electron transport in titanium dioxide (TiO 2 ) nanofiber network for dye sensitized solar cell (DSSC) applications. Raman active modes observed at 382 cm −1 and 406 cm −1 confirmed the presence of atomically thin MoS 2 in TiO 2 and transmission electron microscopic studies showed MoS 2 with a lattice spacing of 3.12 Å. DSSCs using MoS 2 incorporated TiO 2 nanofiber as a photo‐anode resulted in 27% enhancement in photo‐conversion efficiency ( η ) than that of the DSSC using only TiO 2 as an electron acceptor. A 26% enhancement in the short circuit current density ( J SC ) achieved by incorporating 0.1 weight % of MoS 2 nanoflakes in the bulk of TiO 2 confirmed efficient electron transport achieved by suppressing the probability of electron‐hole capture by TiO 2 surface states due to the additional electron transport pathways established by MoS 2 which facilitated the photo‐generated electrons to reach the transparent electrode by skipping the TiO 2 surface states. Results suggest that further increase in the quantity of MoS 2 in TiO 2 impedes the electron transport in the bulk as observed with 7% and 38% reduction in η for 0.2 and 0.3 weight % of MoS 2 in TiO 2 . This suggests that the DSSC performance can be increased for an optimum concentration of MoS 2 in TiO 2 by establishing efficient transport pathways towards the transparent electrode.