Electrochemically Deposited Polypyrrole for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell Counter Electrodes

Abstract EN

Polypyrrole films were coated on conductive glass by electrochemical deposition (alternative current or direct current process).

They were then used as the dye-sensitized solar cell counter electrodes.

Scanning electron microscopy revealed that polypyrrole forms a nanoparticle-like structure on the conductive glass.

The amount of deposited polypyrrole (or film thickness) increased with the deposition duration, and the performance of polypyrrole based-dye-sensitized solar cells is dependant upon polymer thickness.

The highest efficiency of alternative current and direct current polypyrrole based-dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) is 4.72% and 4.02%, respectively.

Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy suggests that the superior performance of alternative current polypyrrole solar cells is due to their lower charge-transfer resistance between counter electrode and electrolyte.

The large charge-transfer resistance of direct current solar cells is attributed to the formation of unbounded polypyrrole chains minimizing the I3 − reduction rate.