Page 421 - Polymer-based Nanocomposites for Energy and Environmental Applications

378 Polymer-based Nanocomposites for Energy and Environmental Applications

Fig. 13.12 SEM of electrodeposited PANI structures at (A) 2.0, (B) 2.2, (C) 2.4, and (D) 2.6 V
on ITO-PET substrates.
Reproduced with permission from Qin Q, Zhang R. A novel conical structure of polyaniline
nanotubes synthesized on ITO-PET conducting substrate by electrochemical method.
Electrochim Acta 2013;89:726–31.

PANI is one of the most widely studied conductive polymers as CEs in DSCs. In
order to get high catalytic activity and efficiency, synthesized PANI nanostructure
should be porous and with high surface area. Different synthesis methods such as oxi-
dative polymerization [59] and in situ electrochemical polymerization [72,73] can be
used for fabrication of PANI nanoparticles and PANI-based CEs. Qin and Zhang [66]
synthesized conical nanotube structured PANI-based flexible CEs on ITO-PET
substrates via electrochemical polymerization method. By varying the polymerization
potential from 2.0 to 2.6 V, they produced PANI in the form of nanosheets, nanofibers,
and nanorods on ITO-PET substrates (Fig. 13.12) and obtained 0.86% PCE from the
flexible conical nanotube structured PANI/ITO-PET CE-based DSC. Lan et al. [67]
produced one-dimensional PANI nanobelts by chemical polymerization of aniline and
ammonium peroxysulfate in hydrochloric acid aqueous solution. They compared the
performance of DSCs composed of PANI with that of thermally decomposed Pt-based
CEs and obtained 6.32% and 7.06% PCE, respectively.
The conductivity, porosity, and catalytic activity of PANI-based CEs are also
affected by the doping compounds within PANI. Li et al. [68] studied
2 4
electropolymerized-PANI film doped with different counter ions (SO 4 , ClO ,

BF ,Cl , and p-toluenesulfonate (TsO )) as CEs in DSC. Their results confirmed
4