Sulfamic Acid-Doped Polyaniline Nanofibers Thin Film-Based Counter Electrode: Application in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Abstract

Uniform polyaniline nanofibers (PANI NFs) and chemically doped sulfamic acid (SFA) PANI NFs, synthesized via template free interfacial polymerization process, were used as new counter electrodes materials for the fabrication of the highly efficient dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The PANI NFs-based fabricated DSSCs exhibited a solar-to-electricity conversion efficiency of ∼4.0%, while the SFA-doped PANI NFs-based DSSC demonstrated ∼27% improvement in the solar-to-electricity conversion efficiency. The obtained solar-to-electricity conversion efficiency for SFA-doped PANI NFs-based DSSC was 5.5% under 100 mW/cm 2 (AM1.5). The enhancement in the conversion efficiency was due to the incorporation of SFA into the PANI NFs, which resulted in the higher electrocatalytic activity for the I 3 − /I − redox reaction.