Graphene/polyaniline nanocomposite as platinum-free counter electrode material for dye-sensitized solar cell: its fabrication and photovoltaic performance

In this study, it was aimed to produce graphene/polyaniline nanocomposite thin films as counter electrode materials by PECVD system and to determine the photovoltaic performances of these counter electrodes in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Graphene/polyaniline counter electrode (GPCE) material was produced in two different steps. Firstly, a single-layer and multilayer graphene thin films were produced on the fluorine-doped tinoxide (FTO) substrates. Then, polyaniline (PANI) thin films were grown on each graphene thin films using plasma polymerization technique, and eventually the production of the graphene/PANI nanocomposite was completed. The fabricated graphene/PANI nanocomposites were used in place of platinum (Pt)-counter electrode which is widely used in DSSCs and the photovoltaic performance of these counter electrodes was investigated. The DSSCs consisted of titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanotube photoanode, N719 dye, iodolyte liquid electrolyte, and graphene/PANI nanocomposite counter electrode. I–V measurements were carried out in order to calculated photoconversion efficiency (PCE) and it was found that the these efficiency of GPCEs changed between 0.56 and 1.36% according to the number of graphene layers. The photovoltaic performance of DSSC, consisting of TiO2 nanotube photoanode and Pt-counter electrode was 1.1%.