Emulsion-assisted polyaniline grown on molybdenum diselenide nanoflowers for efficient counter electrode application in dye-sensitized solar cells

Molybdenum diselenide (MoSe₂) is often composed with conducting polymers like polyaniline (PANI) to lower the stacking and increase the active sites for catalysis. The method of polymerization and the concentration of monomer play a significant role in the growth of PANI nanostructures over the MoSe₂ surface. Here, MoSe₂-PANI nanocomposites have been synthesized with different molar concentrations of the monomer in the emulsion of chloroform and distilled water using ammonium persulfate (APS) as the initiator. The increased surface area of the composite MPAN (1:1) compared to pristine MoSe2, as observed from the FESEM and BET study, is fruitful for counter-electrode application in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC). The lower Rct values for the MPAN (1:1) and increased current in cyclic voltammetry further approved the suitability of the MoSe₂-PANI as a counter electrocatalyst. The counter electrodes against N719 dye-sensitized TiO₂ photoanode in DSSC yielded the best results for MPAN (1:1), generating an efficiency of 6.45%.