Graphene oxide induced fabrication of pillared and double-faced polyaniline arrays with enhanced triiodide reduction capability

- Pillared and double-faced polyaniline arrays with highly open architectures are configured.
- The as-made PANI/GO composites as CE for DSSCs deliver superior PCE to Pt.
- The PANI arrays lead to highly exposed active sites, producing an enhanced catalytic activity.
- Excellent electrochemical stability of PANI/GO implies great potential for Pt replacement.

Counter electrode (CE) materials, featuring low cost, high electrical conductivity and electrocatalytic activity, are one of the key points to achieve practical application of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). To tackle with this issue, the pillared and double-faced polyaniline (PANI) nanocone arrays induced by graphene oxide (GO) (PANI/GO) are configured through in-situ polymerization, and the electrochemical behavior as the low-cost CE for DSSCs is revealed. The GO sheets adopted as a substrate and structure-directing agent could effectively induce the uniform and vertical growth of PANI arrays, thus producing a free and open networks. This unique structure is further capable of shortening the ionic diffusion path and providing the large contactable area to the electrolyte. And, a high power conversion efficiency of 8.19 ± 0.08% can be achieved, being superior to those of Pt and PANI references. Moreover, the as-made PANI/GO CE also delivers an outstanding electrochemical stability. The present strategy provides a simple yet efficient method to engineer the high-efficiency and fast mass-transport catalyst for DSSCs and electrode materials for other energy storage/conversion.

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