A unique liquid junction solar cell (LJSC) based on p-type
hole-transporting
CoS nanoflakes tethered to n-type textured silicon (T-Si) with pyramidal
structures as photoanodes has been fabricated. A ferrocene/ferrocenium
(Fc/Fc+) redox couple electrolyte and an electrocatalytic
counter electrode film (CE) of antimony nanostructures anchored to
tungsten oxide (SbNSs/WO3) are used in the cell. The cell
delivers a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of ∼8.4%, which
is superior by ∼97% to the LJSCs without CoS and SbNSs. CoS
nanoflakes function as independent photosensitizers, generate electron/hole
pairs, and increase photocurrents. They also facilitate photo-generated
hole transport from T-Si to Fc and suppress charge recombination,
leading to an improvement in PCE by ∼82% compared to pristine
T-Si. Simultaneously, the composite of SbNSs/WO3 outperforms
both SbNSs and WO3 due to better electrocatalytic activity
and low overpotential for Fc+ reduction at the CE/Fc+ interface. The CoS/T-Si/Fc/Fc+/SbNSs/WO3 LJSC architecture results in a stable, reproducible performance
wherein exposure to extended illumination results in a moderate loss
in the PCE, indicating that this strategy of using CoS and Sb can
be applied to other hybrid or tandem silicon-based solar cells.
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