Preparation of conducting polyanilines doped with Keggin-type polyoxometalates and their application as counter electrode in dye-sensitized solar cells

Abstract

Conducting polyanilines doped with two Keggin-type polyoxometalates (POMs) were synthesized by chemical oxidation of aniline. Both conducting polymers provided electrical conductivity values up to 0.1 S cm−1, as measured by the standard four-probe technique. Structural and morphological characterizations for these materials were achieved by FTIR spectra, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and thermogravimetric analysis. These conducting polyanilines doped with Keggin-type polyoxometalates (PANI–POMs) were also used to prepare a new type of counter electrode for application in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs). Promising results were achieved from DSCs based on PANI–POMs as the materials for the counter electrode, which provides evidence for the dopant role in enhancing the electrical conductivity of PANI.