The composite polymer electrolyte consisting of poly (ethylene oxide) (PEO), KI, I2 and TiO2 was blended with low molecular weight poly (ethylene glycol) (PEG) and (PEG-MA)-Ru. The SEM images of these blended PEO electrolytes showed better dispersion of materials and the electrochemical impedance spectroscopic study showed an increase in conductivity compared to that of composite PEO electrolyte. These results were consistent with enhanced efficiency of DSSCs using these blended PEO electrolytes. The energy conversion efficiencies of DSSCs using composite PEO-PEG, PEO-(PEG-MA)-Ru and PEO-PEG-(PEG-MA)-Ru polymer blend electrolytes were 5.47, 5.05 and 5.28, respectively compared to 4.99 of DSSC using composite PEO electrolyte. The long-term storage of unsealed DSSCs at room temperature for 93 days demonstrated that the cell efficiency gradually decreased to 0.49-1.88%. DSSCs assembled with composite polymer blend electrolyte showed a slower decrease than that of DSSC using composite PEO electrolyte. It was found that the composite PEO-PEG-(PEG-MA)-Ru polymer blend electrolyte of 1.0:0.1:0.1 weight ratio gave the best improvement in stability of DSSCs.
Quasi-solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) based on polyethylene oxide (PEO), I2 and inorganic iodides (LiI, KI, NaI, NH4I) and/or ionic liquids ([DMIm]I, [EMIm]I, [MPIm]I, [HMIm]I) were prepared and investigated at AM1·5/10 and AM1·5 illumination conditions. Results revealed highest energy-conversion efficiencies for the PEO + I2 + LiI + [EMIm]I (60 wt%) quasi-solid-state electrolyte of 5·9% and 3·6% at AM1·5/10 and AM1·5, respectively. Moreover, it was shown (within fluctuations of the solar cells’ performance) that the short circuit current density (ISC) decreased with increasing open circuit voltage (VOC) for electrolytes with inorganic cations; however, in the case of the solar cells prepared with ionic liquids, the ISC increased with increasing VOC. Limiting factors and reasons for fluctuations in the performance of quasi-solid-state DSSCs are discussed.
Dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) consist of photoanodes (dye adsorbed porous semiconductor film), electrolytes and counter electrodes. Nanostructured materials play important parts in both the photoanodes and the counter electrodes, while dyes are there to absorb photons and generate electron-hole pairs and electrolytes are there to transfer electrons from the photoanodes to the counter electrodes. In this study, to enhance light absorption and minimize electron-hole recombination, Ag nanoparticles and MgO nanolayer were coated on TiO2, respectively. To enable a long lifetime, i.e. avoiding liquid electrolyte leakage, quasi-solid-state (QSS) DSSCs were fabricated. PtSn nanoparticles were prepared by a simple chemical reduction method on graphene oxide (GO) to compare with conventional Pt catalyst on FTO substrates as counter electrodes. An average efficiency of the QSS DSSCs with PtSn/GO co-catalysts was found to outperform that of the QSS DSSCs with conventional Pt catalyst. A mixed microstructure of the PtSn/GO co-catalyst was observed. Although, PtSn2 and Pt2Sn3 phases were suggested by XRD, in a small region observed by EDX-STEM, it was found that C, O and Si were distributed uniformly on the graphene oxide film. Pt was also distributed uniformly, but the signal was low so there were only a few X-Ray counts across the image. There was no sign of Pt being concentrated in the particles. However, Sn was found to be concentrated in the particles without any other elements.
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