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

Abstract

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 ([Formula: see text]) of 183.16[Formula: see text][Formula: see text], open-circuit voltage ([Formula: see text]) of 0.92[Formula: see text]V, fill factor (FF) of 25% and power conversion efficiency ([Formula: see text]) of 0.18% under the light intensity of 242[Formula: see text]W[Formula: see text]. The estimated power conversion efficiency and fill factor are comparable to organic-based photovoltaic devices.