Ultrasonic irradiation preparation of graphitic-C 3 N 4 /polyaniline nanocomposites as counter electrodes for dye-sensitized solar cells.

In this research, polyaniline/graphitic carbon nitride (PANI/g-C ₃ N ₄ ) nanocomposites were synthesized via in-situ electrochemical polymerization of aniline monomer whit different number of cyclic voltammetry scans (10, 20 and 30 cycles) after electrode surface pre-preparation using a potential shock under ultrasonic irradiation. PANI/g-C ₃ N ₄ nanocomposites with two values of g-C ₃ N ₄ (0.010 wt% and 0.015 wt%) were deposited on the surface of the transparent conducting film (FTO glass) by immersing FTO into the aniline solution and g-C ₃ N ₄ during the electro-polymerization. The resulting PANI/g-C ₃ N ₄ films were characterized by Fourier transformed infra-red (FTIR), power X-ray diffraction (PXRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) techniques. The prepared electrodes were applied as counter electrode in dye-sensitized solar cells. Among them, the prepared electrode with 10 cycles and 0.01 wt% g-C ₃ N ₄ showed the best efficiency. These hybrids show good catalytic activity in elevating tri-iodide reduction and due to the synergistic effect of PANI and g-C ₃ N ₄ , PANI/g-C ₃ N ₄ nanocomposite electrode shows power conversion efficiency about 1.8%.
(Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)