Cobalt-ZIF67 supported growth and exfoliation in molybdenum diselenide nanosheets for enhanced electrocatalytic performance in dye-sensitized solar cells

Molybdenum diselenide (MoSe 2 ) is known for its high intrinsic electrocatalytic activity; however, its practical performance is often limited by severe nanosheet agglomeration, which restricts the exposure of electrochemically active basal planes. In this study, MoSe 2 nanostructures are synthesized in the presence of uniformly dispersed zeolitic imidazole framework (ZIF-67) dodecahedra, which retains most of its structure. This strategy promoted the circumferential anchoring of MoSe 2 on the ZIF67 surface, effectively suppressing restacking and inducing considerable exfoliation. As a result, the specific surface area (SSA) increases by 1.5-fold, leading to a higher density of accessible active sites. Cyclic voltammetry reveals a 88% reduction in peak-to-peak potential (Epp), indicating enhanced charge-transfer kinetics, while Tafel analysis shows a 35% improvement in corrosion stability. The device shows a 37% increase in power conversion efficiency and stability up to 30 days, retaining 70% of its initial PCE. Moreover, post-restoration measurements reveal an efficiency of 4.41% with only a 16.3% loss compared to the initial PCE. These results demonstrate that ZIF67-mediated growth is an effective route to enhance the electrocatalytic performance of MoSe 2 by mitigating nanosheet agglomeration and increasing the accessibility of active sites.