title: Self-assembled free-standing polypyrrole nanotube membrane as an efficient FTO- and Pt-free counter electrode for dye-sensitized solar cells.
abstract: The construction of nanoporous conductive polymer membranes has potential applications in catalysts and energy-conversion devices. In this letter, we present a facile method to prepare free-standing polypyrrole (PPy) nanotube films by simply heating pulp-like homogeneous suspensions at a low temperature, which can be employed as a novel counter electrode (CE) to substitute for the expensive fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) glass and Pt used in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The DSSCs assembled with these paper-like PPy membranes show an impressive conversion efficiency of 5.27%, which is about 84% of the cell with a conventional Pt/FTO CE (6.25%).
authors.affiliation: School of Physics and Technology and Key Laboratory of Artificial Micro- and Nano-Structure of the Ministry of Education, Wuhan University , Wuhan 430072, China.
authors.forename: Tao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.forename: Weiwei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Chengliang
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Wenjing
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Bobby
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sebo
authors.forename: Zhigao
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Dai
authors.forename: Shishang
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Xing-Zhong
authors.initials: XZ
authors.lastname: Zhao