Influence of anions on transparency and electrochemical properties of electro polymerized polypyrrole counter electrode for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Alessandra Sanson^a, Alex Sangiorgi^a, Riccardo Bendoni^a, Nicola Sangiorgi^a

^aNational Research Council of Italy-Institue of Science and Technology for Ceramics, Via Granarolo 64, Faenza, 48018, Italy

International Conference on Hybrid and Organic Photovoltaics
Proceedings of International Conference on Hybrid and Organic Photovoltaics 2015 (HOPV15)

Roma, Italy, 2015 May 11th - 13th

Organizer: Filippo De Angelis

Poster, Nicola Sangiorgi, 403
Publication date: 5th February 2015

Recently, much attention has been paid on Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells (DSCs) as a promising alternative to traditional photovoltaic cells for the low cost of production and eco-friendly components. Building-Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) in particular, can boost the transition to the market of DSCs. In BIPV, one of the more desirable characteristics of DSCs is to be bi-facial, i.e. convert into electricity the light coming from both side of the cell: from outdoor and indoor. For this purpose, both photo-anode and counter-electrode must be highly transparent. The aim of the present work was the preparation and characterization of a transparent counter-electrode based on one of the most appealing alternative to Platinum, polypyrrole (PPy). The counter-electrode was prepared by electrochemical oxidation considering different doping anions: Potassium Chloride (Cl^-), Lithium Perchlorate (ClO₄^-), Sulfuric Acid (SO₄^2-) and Sodium-dodecylbenzensulfonate (DBS^-). The influence of each anions on the transmittance and electrochemical properties of the PPy film was studied. The electro polymerization was carried out in a three electrochemical cell with the FTO substrate as the working electrode, a Platinum plate as auxiliary electrode and SCE as reference. The polymerization was performed in the potentiostatic conditions at 1 V vs. SCE for different times in an aqueous solution containing 0,05 M of pyrrole with the different concentration of doping anions (0,2 M low concentration and 0,5 M high concentration). The morphology of the PPy films was analysed by FE-SEM whereas the transmittance at 525 nm (maximum of absorbance of the most use DSC dye, the N719) was determined by a spectrophotometer. The electro-catalytic activity on iodine/triiodine redox couple was studied by cyclic voltammetry in a conventional three-electrodes cell. The PPy film obtained with high doping anions concentration posses the highest transmittance while the PPy doped with BDS^-shows the highest catalytic activity. These trends can be explained by the microstructure (small particles) and porosity of the polymer surface. Finally, the counter-electrode based on PPy film doped with different anions were tested in a real DSCs system based on screen printed TiO₂ anode sensitized with N719 dye and iodine/triiodine redox couple as electrolyte. The i-V curves and Impedance both in the dark and under illumination were done and counter-electrode charge transfer resistance was determined. The IPCE properties were evaluated as well. The functional characterizations done with incident light from both the photo-anode and counter electrode side showed similar performance confirming the good potentialities of the developed material and process.

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