In Situ Prepared Transparent Polyaniline Electrode and Its Application in Bifacial Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

• Published in: ACS nano Vol. 5; no. 5; pp. 3795 - 3799
• Main Authors: Tai, Qidong, Chen, Bolei, Guo, Feng, Xu, Sheng, Hu, Hao, Sebo, Bobby, Zhao, Xing-Zhong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Chemical Society 24.05.2011
• Subjects: Aniline Compounds - chemistry; Coloring Agents - chemistry; Electric Power Supplies; Electrodes; Equipment Design; Equipment Failure Analysis; Solar Energy; bifacial dye-sensitized solar cell; counter electrode; polyaniline; cost-effective; transparent
• ISSN: 1936-0851; 1936-086X; 1936-086X
• DOI: 10.1021/nn200133g

Highly uniform and transparent polyaniline (PANI) electrodes that can be used as counter electrodes in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) were prepared by a facile in situ polymerization method. They were used to fabricate a novel bifacially active transparent DSSC, which showed conversion efficiencies of 6.54 and 4.26% corresponding to front- and rear-side illumination, respectively. Meanwhile, the efficiency of the same photoanode employing a Pt counter electrode was 6.69%. Compared to conventional Pt-based DSSCs, the design of the bifacial DSSC fabricated in this work would help to bring down the cost of energy production due to the lower cost of the materials and the higher power-generating efficiency of such devices for their capabilities of utilizing the light from both sides. These promising results highlight the potential application of PANI in cost-effective, transparent DSSCs.