One-Step Electrochemical Polymerization of Polyaniline Flexible Counter Electrode Doped by Graphene

Abstract

To improve the photoelectric property of polyaniline (PANI) counter electrode using for flexible dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC), graphene (GN) was doped in PANI films covered on flexible conducting substrate by one-step electrochemical method, and then GN/PANI composites are characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM), fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), four probe instrument, and so on. The results show that PANI particles can be electrodeposited on the surface of GN sheets as the potential rising to 2.0 V. This formed unique PANI-GN-PANI lamellar structure owing to the strong interaction of conjugatedπelectron between GN and PANI results in the superior conductivity and catalytic performance of GN/PANI electrode. The maximum conversion efficiency of dye-sensitized solar cell with this counter electrode reaches 4.31%, which is much higher than that of GN-free PANI counter electrode.