The Research On The Application Of Polyaniline And Its Composites In Dye-sensitized Solar Cells

As an important component of dye-sensitized solar cell(DSSC),it’s of great significance to carry out research on couter electrode. Platinum is the most used DSSC couter electrode material for its excellent performance. However, the application of platinum in DSSCs is restricted due to its rare content on the earth and high price. Polyaniline received reseachers’ s attention due to its good conducting property, high catalytic activity, cheap raw material, easy and various kinds of preparation methods and easily controlled morphology. The paper focused on the research on the application of polyaniline and its composits in DSSC counter electrodes. The detailed content was listed as follow:Sixteen alkyl three methyl bromide(CTAB)was used as template for preparing spherical polyaniline counter electrodes by chemical bath deposition, which was of chemical oxidation method. Spherical polyaniline counter electrodes performed superior catalytic activity compared to which formed by nontemplate chemical bath deposition. Meanwhile, the counter electrodes were prepared by drop casting polyaniline prepared by chmical oxidation method. Fabricating the DSSCs with three types of counter electrodes, 7.06%、6.97% and 6.53% photoelectric conversion efficiency were got, respectly.Transition metal oxide NiO and Co3O4 were mixed with polyaniline prepared by chemical oxidation method. Counter electrodes were made by drop casting the mixtures, and DSSCs were fabricated. 7.23%, 7.38% photoelectric conversion efficiency were got for Co3O4/PANI and NiO/PANI, respectly, and it turned out that composite counter electrodes have better catalytic performance than single pure polyaniline counter electrode.Acetylene black and polyaniline composite counter electrodes were obtained by drop casting acetylene black on FTO and subsequently electrodepositing polyaniline. The tenuous polyaniline was got,which increased the order of polyaniline and its contact with electrolyte. The catalytic activity increased and 7.28% photoelectric conversion efficiency was got. At the same time, graphite oxide was prepared by improved Hummers method. Graphene oxide suspension was got by sonicating graphite oxide suspension. Then Graphene oxide was deposited on FTO by the electrophoresis deposition method and reduced graphene oxide(rGO)was got by the reduction of grahpene oxide by NaBH4. Polyaniline was electrodedeposited on rGO and the composite electrodes with plate morphology were got and 7.71% photoelectric conversion efficiency was achieved.