Plasma-enhanced polymerized aniline/TiO₂ dye-sensitized solar cells

TiO₂/polyaniline (PANI) and dye absorbed TiO₂/polyaniline electrodes were prepared by plasma-enhanced polymerization using aniline monomer for the fabrication of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The structural and the crystalline studies demonstrated the formation of TiO₂/PANI thin film, where the PANI molecules are well penetrated into the porous nanocrystalline TiO₂ thin film. The electrical conductivity of pristine PANI greatly improved by the incorporation of TiO₂ into TiO₂/PANI electrode. The fabricated DSSC with dye absorbed TiO₂/PANI electrode exhibited a reasonably well overall conversion efficiency of ∼0.68%. The dye absorbed TiO₂/PANI electrode based DSSCs significantly improved the conversion efficiency as compared to the TiO₂/PANI electrode and thus, may attribute to the high charge carrier transportation between the TiO₂ and the PANI layer. An impedance study was performed to describe the high J_SC, FF, and conversion efficiency of dye absorbed TiO₂/PANI electrode based cells.