Preparation of conducting polyanilines doped with Keggin-type polyoxometalates and their application as counter electrode in dye-sensitized solar cells

Conducting polyanilines doped with two Keggin-type polyoxometalates (POMs) were synthesized by chemical oxidation of aniline. Both conducting polymers provided electrical conductivity values up to 0.1 S cm(-1), as measured by the standard four-probe technique. Structural and morphological characterizations for these materials were achieved by FTIR spectra, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and thermogravimetric analysis. These conducting polyanilines doped with Keggin-type polyoxometalates (PANI-POMs) were also used to prepare a new type of counter electrode for application in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs). Promising results were achieved from DSCs based on PANI-POMs as the materials for the counter electrode, which provides evidence for the dopant role in enhancing the electrical conductivity of PANI.