PHOTOELECTROCHEMICAL CELL OF HYBRID REGIOREGULAR POLY(3-HEXYLTHIOPHENE-2,5-DIYL) AND MOLYBDENUM DISULFIDE FILM

The photoelectrochemical cell attracts attention worldwide due to conversion of optical energy into electricity, production of hydrogen through water splitting and use in photodetector and photo-sensor applications. We have been working on the photochemical cell based on regioregular polyhexylthiophenes hybrid-structured films for photoelectrochemical and photovoltaic applications. This paper discusses the hybrid film studies on regioregular poly( 3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl) ( P3HT) with 2D molybdenum disulfide ( MoS2) for photoelectrochemical cell. The hybrid P3HT/MoS2 films deposited over indium tin oxide ( ITO)-coated glass plate or n-type silicon substrates were characterized using FTIR, UV/vis, electrochemical and scanning electron microscopy ( SEM) techniques. The optical measurements showed a higher absorption magnitude with low reflection properties of P3HT/MoS2 hybrid films revealing a superior photocurrent compared to both P3HT and MoS2 films. The P3HT/MoS2 hybrid-based photoelectrochemical cell yielded a short-circuit current ( I-sc) of 183.16 mu A.cm(-2), open-circuit voltage ( V-oc) of 0.92V, fill factor ( FF) of 25% and power conversion efficiency (eta) of 0.18% under the light intensity of 242W.m(-2). The estimated power conversion efficiency and fill factor are comparable to organic-based photovoltaic devices.