Conducting polymers: New Arena in dye-sensitized solar cells

Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells (DSSCs) have arose to be a cost-effective substitute for solar cells in energy storage application. This is due to its special features such as environmentally safe and stable, inexpensive manufacturing and simple fabrication technique. Although DSSC possessed high efficiency in power conversion, some of the material used leads toward its limitations. For instance, the use of platinum metal as counter electrode is highly cost and it tends towards corrosion. Moreover, the used of volatile liquid as electrolyte often result in leakage and low chemical stability. In order to overcome these drawbacks, conducting polymer (CPs) are employed as replacement material for counter electrode and liquid electrolyte since CPs is known with their numerous unique properties in various application. This overview highlighted the role of CPs especially polyaniline (PANI) and polypyrrole (PPy) in DSSCs that can improve its photovoltaic performance despite the challenges and future prospects in using CPs as substitute material.