Robust polyaniline-graphene complex counter electrodes for efficient dye-sensitized solar cells.

With an aim of accelerating the charge transfer between polyaniline (PANi) and graphene, polyaniline-graphene (PANi-graphene) complexes are synthesized by a reflux technique and employed as counter electrodes (CEs) for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Because of the easy charge-transfer between PANi (N atoms) and graphene (C atoms) by a covalent bond, electrical conduction and electrocatalysis of PANi-graphene complex CEs, and therefore power conversion efficiency of their DSSCs have been elevated in comparison with that of PANi-only CE. The resultant PANi-graphene complex CEs are characterized by spectral analysis, morphology observation, and electrochemical tests. The DSSC employing PANi-8 wt ‰ graphene complex CE gives an impressive power conversion efficiency of 7.78%, which is higher than 6.24% from PANi-only and 6.52% from Pt-only CE-based DSSCs.