Robust optical and electrical properties of TiO_2-sensitized polymeric (PANI-TiO_2) nanocomposites for hybrid solar cell application

摘要

A poly aniline (PANI)-basedTiO_2-sensitized polymeric active layer was synthesized via an in situ polymerization technique in the presence of ammonium persulphate (APS as the oxidizer) for its use in hybrid solar cell application. TiO_2-sensitized tubular PANI nanocomposites with an average diameter of ~50 nm proved to be very efficient for optimizing the optical band gap so as to absorb the maximum solar spectrum. The synergistic combination of PANI-TiO_2 (4%) featured the maximum current for varying concentrations of TiO_2 towards current-voltage (I-V) and cyclic voltammetry measurements. Further, the thermal stability was markedly enhanced by incorporating TiO_2 nanoparticles into the polymer matrix as compared to pure PANI.