Effect of zinc oxide incorporation of poly (aniline)-titanium dioxide ternary nanocrystalline photo-anode for dye-sensitized solar cell applications

In this work, we have developed optically transparent zinc oxide nanoparticles doped with highly efficient of poly (aniline)-titanium dioxide (PANI/TiO2/ZnO) ternary composites were prepared by simple chemical oxidative polymerization method and its used as photo-anode for dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) applications. The as prepared PANI/TiO2/ZnO characterized by the various techniques such as FT-IR, XRD, HR-TEM, SAED, FE-SEM, AFM, and UV-Visible analysis. Morphological analysis was observed in the surface morphology of ZnO doped PANI/TiO2 in crystalline nature. The topographical AFM images were also observed in crystalline nature. Tauc plot analysis were examined the optical band-gap energy (2.95 eV) of PANI/TiO2/ZnO. The DSSCs assembled and as prepared PANI/TiO2, PANI/ZnO, TiO2/ZnO, PANI/TiO2/ZnO were used as photo-anode, 1hexyl-3-methylimidazolium iodide containing the iodide/triiodide redox mediator used as the electrolyte, platinum paste used as a counter electrode. Among the devices, PANI/TiO2/ZnO photo-anode gives 8.31% efficiency.