Water-soluble polyaniline/graphene prepared by in situ polymerization in graphene dispersions and use as counter-electrode materials for dye-sensitized solar cells

Water-soluble polyaniline/graphene nanocomposites have been prepared via a simple in situ polymerization of aniline in graphene dispersion. TEM measurement confirmed that polyaniline was homogeneously coated on the graphene sheets. The nanocomposites solution can be used for film fabrication by common technology, such as drop coating. When these different polyaniline/graphene nanocomposites were applied as the counter electrode materials for dye-sensitized solar cells, the short-circuit current density and power-conversion efficiency of the devices were measured to be 12.19 mA cm−2 and 4.46%, respectively, which was comparable to 5.71% for the cell with a Pt counter electrode under the same experimental conditions.