Fabrication and characterization of core/shell structured TiO2/polyaniline nanocomposite

A novel core/shell structured TiO2/polyaniline nanocomposite was fabricated by grafting aniline on aminobenzoate monolayer that is chemically adsorbed on the TiO2 nanocrystal surface. The formation and nanostructure of the nanocomposite were investigated by FT-IR and UV-Vis spectra, TEM, FE-SEM, and TG-DTA analysis. Adsorption of aminobenzoate on the TiO2 surface is an effective method to obtain the uniform nanocomposite. The thickness of polyaniline layer coating on the TiO2 nanocrystal surface can be controlled in a range of 2-5 nm by this method. A photoelectrochemical study was carried out on the TiO2/polyaniline nanocomposite, and found that polyaniline in the nanocomposite acted as a visible-light sensitizer in a photoelectrochemical reaction. The sensitization effect increased with increasing binding strength between polyaniline and TiO2. A dye-sensitized solar cell with a short circuit current density of 0.19 mA/cm(2) and an open circuit voltage of 0.35 V was fabricated by using the TiO2/polyaniline nanocomposite film as a sensitized electrode. (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.