The effect of transition metal ions （M^2＋=Mn^2＋,Ni^2＋,Co^2＋,Cu^2＋） on the chemical synthesis polyaniline as counter electrodes in dye-sensitized solar cells

• Published in: 中国化学工程学报：英文版 2017, Vol.25 (5), p.671-675
• Main Author: Kezhong Wu Lei Chen Weizhen Cui Bei Ruan Mingxing Wu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: PANI; 功率转换效率; 化学合成; 对电极; 染料敏化太阳能电池; 离子掺杂; 聚苯胺; 过渡金属离子
• ISSN: 1004-9541; 2210-321X

The effect of transition metal ions（M~（2＋）=Mn~（2＋）,Ni~（2＋）,Co~（2＋）,Cu~（2＋）） on the chemical synthesis of polyaniline（PANI） used as a platinum-free counter electrode（CE） in dye-sensitized solar cells（DSSCs） was investigated.PANI was synthesized by co-polymerization of aniline in the presence of different transition metal ions by using potassium dichromate in acidic medium. It was found that the ion doping of PANI showed a certain catalytic activity for the regeneration of traditional iodide/triiodide（I~-/I3~-） redox couples. The power conversion efficiency（η） of PANI CEs doped with Mn~（2＋）,Ni~（2＋）,Co~（2＋） （4.41%, 2.36% and 2.10%, respectively） were higher than 1.94%, the value measured for PANI CE without doping. Doping with Cu~（2＋）decreased the power conversion efficiency of PANI CE（PANI-Cu~（2＋） η = 1.41%）. The electrical properties of the PANI, PANI-Ni^2＋, PANI-Co^2＋,PANI-Mn^2＋ and PANI-Cu^2＋ were studied by cyclic voltammetry（CV）, impedance（EIS）, and Tafel polarization curve. The experimental results confirmed that PANI was affected by the doping of different transition metal ions（M^2＋=Mn^2＋,Ni^2＋,Co^2＋,Cu^2＋）. These results indicate a potential application of ion doped PANI as counter electrode in cost-effective DSSCs.