Highly Efficient Dye-sensitized Solar Cells Based on Poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene) and Montmorillonite Nanofiller-based Composite Electrolytes

Abstract

IntroductionDye-sensitized solar cells DSSCs have acquired significant interest over the last twenty years both in academia and industrial research. They are expected to be a plausible substitute for classical photovoltaic devices due to their good power conversion efficiency PCE , low production cost, and potential for designing colorful, transparent DSSCs 1 5 . DSSCs with PCEs of up to 12 , 13 , and 14 , respectively, have been fabricated based on ruthenium complex, zinc porphyrin, and organic dyes 6 8 . In these types of DSSCs, a high volatile organic solvent such as acetonitrile-based liquid electrolyte LE is generally used. However, LEs cause leakage of the electrolytes and evaporation of solvents, particularly at elevated temperatures, both of which reduce the lifetime of the DSSCs 9 . Therefore, appropriate sealing techniques are always required when preparing liquid-state cells. Low-volatility solvents

An Investigation on Gel-State Electrolytes for Solar Cells Sensitized with β-Substituted Porphyrinic Dyes

“…A basic solution is then used to prepare the hydrolysed precipitate, which is maintained at pH 12 and 80 • C for 48 h. Finally, the nanoclay powder is washed with water and freeze dried for 8 h. The formulation protocol to obtain this type of electrolytes was simply based on gelling the liquid electrolyte by adding different amounts of nanoclay powders and mixing them using sonication. Finally, montmorillonite nanoclay was employed to create a composite gel-state electrolyte in combination with PVDF-HFP and an iodide/iodine redox couple that produced a DSSC with a PCE of 6.77% in the optimized conditions (5 wt.% of nanoclay) [23]. A critical aspect that must be considered with a gel-state electrolyte is related to its interaction with the photoanode side (TiO 2 active layer and sensitizer) and the corresponding properties of the TiO 2 /dye/electrolyte interface.…”