Novel route to prepare iron sulphide as a counter electrode for dye-sensitized solar cell

In this study, iron sulphide thin films were prepared by simple and low-cost chemical spray-pyrolysis method using tilt deposition with a spraying angle of 45 degrees and substrates temperature of 200 degrees C. The precursors were iron chloride salt (FeCl3) and thiourea. After the preparation process, some of the samples are annealed at a temperature 400 degrees C for 30 min. It was found that the as-deposited iron sulphide thin films (without annealing) had an amorphous structure, which gave higher absorption coefficient (2 x 10(5) cm(-1)) for thin film thickness 400 nm. This study also presents a novel method to obtain polycrystalline FeS2 thin films with pyrite phase and optimum energy bandgap and high absorption coefficient. A thin film of iron sulphide was also deposited on fluorine-doped tin oxide glass to work as a counter electrode for dye-sensitized solar cells.