In-situ fabricated transparent conducting nanofiber-shape polyaniline/coral-like TiO2 thin film: Application in bifacial dye-sensitized solar cells

Abstract

Dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) is the most promising of third generation solar cells for large scale applications due its low cost, flexibility, and scalable manufacturability. However, enhancing the efficiency of the DSSC is still highly desired. In this study, we designed a novel bifacial DSSC based on a transparent Polyaniline (PANI) films as counter electrode (CE) associated with coral-like TiO2 nanostructured films, which can be used as the photoanode. PANI-based CEs were prepared by a facile in situ polymerization, while coral-like TiO2 films were chemically synthesized at low temperature through the sol–gel process. Owing to the light irradiation from both the front and the rear sides, it is expected that higher density of dye molecules should be excited. In addition, due to the excellent light scattering of the coal-like TiO2 and high specific surface area of PANI nanofibers (NFs), more carriers are generated. Both these factors resulted in the increase of the conversion efficiency. The bifacial DSSC fabricated by combining the PANI NFs-based film and the coral-like TiO2 film in the presence of the expensive N719 dye molecules showed the efficiency of 8.22% corresponding to the both-side irradiation. In comparison, similar cells employing either a cross-linked PANI- or Pt-based CE showed efficiencies of 7.81% and 7.75%, respectively. The results of the similar cells in the presence of the low cost CoPC dye molecules showed efficiencies of 0.29%, 0.22%, and 0.27%, for DSSCs comprised of PANI NFs-, cross-linked PANI-, and Pt-based CEs, respectively. The low fabrication cost as well as the improved light absorption highlights the potential application of the coral-like TiO2 and PANI NFs-based films in fabrication of bifacial DSSCs.