Transition metal chalcogenides with yolk-shell nanostructures are a family of promising electrocatalytic materials with complex interior construction and remarkable structural tenability. In this work, a sequence of yolk-shell transition metal sulfide nanospheres (Co-Ni-MoS_x, Co-MoS_x and Ni-MoS_x) are prepared as superior Pt-free catalysts for dye-sensitized solar cells. This yolk-shell structure, consisting of a thin shell and an inner porous core, exposes more active sites and provides more contact regions between the electrolyte and catalyst. By comparing with the ternary Co-MoS_x and Ni-MoS_x nanospheres, the quaternary Co-Ni-MoS_x nanospheres have advantages of the relatively larger surface area, favourable chemical composition, higher conductivity and excellent catalytic performance for expediting the reduction of I₃⁻ in solar cells. Particularly, as for Co-Ni-MoS_x, a splendid power conversion efficiency of 9.76% is achieved under a standard irradiation, which is much better than that of Pt (8.24%).

具有卵黄壳纳米结构的过渡金属硫属化物是一类有前途的电催化材料，具有复杂的内部结构和出色的结构韧性。在这项工作中，制备了一系列卵黄壳过渡金属硫化物纳米球（Co-Ni-MoS _x，Co-MoS _x和Ni-MoS _x）作为染料敏化太阳能电池的高级无铂催化剂。这种由薄壳和内部多孔核组成的蛋黄壳结构暴露出更多的活性位点，并在电解质和催化剂之间提供了更多的接触区域。通过与三元Co-MoS _x和Ni-MoS _x纳米球比较，四元Co-Ni-MoS _x纳米球具有相对较大的表面积，有利的化学组成，更高的导电性和用于加速的予还原优异的催化性能的优点₃ ^-中的太阳能电池。特别地，对于Co-Ni-MoS _x，在标准辐射下可实现9.76％的出色功率转换效率，这比Pt（8.24％）要好得多。