Performance Characteristics of Pyrazole as an Effective Dopant in a Blended Polymer Electrolyte for Nanocrystalline Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell Applications

Abstract

Thin films of nanocomposite blended solid polymer electrolyte consisting of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA)/polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), potassium iodide (KI) and iodine (I 2 ) as redox couple and pyrazole (PYR) as dopant were prepared using solution casting technique. The consequences of inclusion of PYR within PMMA/PVDF/KI/I 2 were investigated in terms of photovoltaic performance of the cell whereas the PYR impregnated polymer electrolyte solution when introduced into dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) exhibited an overall energy-conversion efficiency of 5.5% at room temperature under AM1.5 illumination.