Quasi-solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells employing ternary component polymer-gel electrolytes (original) (raw)

Quasi solid state dye sensitized solar cells employing a polymer electrolyte and xanthene dyes

Materials Science and Engineering: B, 2009

A series of organic dyes in the xanthene class namely Rose Bengal (RB), Eosin Y (EY) and Fluorescein sodium (FLU) were used as photo-sensitizer for nano-crystalline TiO 2 , for the application of quasi solid state dye sensitized solar cells. These dyes have same backbone with different number of electron acceptor groups. The dye with the highest number of electron acceptor group, i.e. 8 namely RB shows highest power conversion efficiency due the lower band gap and higher light harvesting efficiency (LHE). The ionic conductivity of polymer electrolyte used in quasi solid state DSSC was examined in terms of polymer content and redox couple concentration. The dependence of photovoltaic performance of the solar cell on the polymer content in the electrolyte used in DSSC, was studied by current-voltage characteristics under illumination and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The result indicates the charge transfer behavior occurred at nano-crystalline TiO 2 /electrolyte and PEDOT:PSS/electrolyte interface plays an important role in influencing the photovoltaic performance of the device. The quasi solid state dye sensitized solar cell posseses a good long-term stability and power conversion efficiency is almost equal to that of DSSCs with liquid electrolyte.

Photovoltaic and Impedance Characteristics of Quasi Solid-State Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell Using Polymer Gel Electrolytes

In order to overwhelm the electrolyte leakage problem and improve the stability in extreme climate conditions, we have studied the fabrication and characteristics of dye sensitized solar cell (DSSC) using polymer gel electrolyte (PGE), which is developed from siloxane based polymer gel blended with imidazolium ionic liquid. In many cases, the use of PGE often reduces its photovoltaic performance due to the decrease in its ionic mobility. However, such influence was not observed in our present work. In this work, the fabricated DSSC do not exhibit significant degradation in its working performance. The best overall energy conversion efficiency is about 5.25%, as indicated by short circuit photocurrent (J sc ) larger than 12 mA/cm 2 , which is comparable to performance of reference cell made by using ionic liquid only. We found from the impedance spectroscopy measurements that the electrolyte diffusion coefficient in the DSSC using this PGE is comparable to that in DSSC using ionic liquid electrolyte.

Highly efficient quasi-solid state dye-sensitized solar cell with ion conducting polymer electrolyte

Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology A-chemistry, 2004

Quasi-solid state dye-sensitized solar cells were fabricated using an oligomer having three polymerizable reactive groups. Only 7% polymer concentration in the polymer electrolyte is found enough to form a stable quasi-solid structure and a three-dimensional polymer network structure is proposed. Conductivity measurement of the polymer electrolyte in different organic solvents shows that the ionic conductivity increases with decreasing the viscosity of the solvent and a high ionic conductivity of 9 mS/cm is observed for the polymer electrolyte composition of 0.2 M DMPII, 0.5 M LiI, 0.05 M I 2 in the mixed solvent of ethylene carbonate and ␥-butyrolactone (30:70 v/v). A short circuit photocurrent density of 14.8 mA/cm 2 , an open circuit voltage of 0.78 V, a fill factor of 0.70 and an overall conversion efficiency of 8.1% under AM1.5 irradiation (100 mW/cm 2 ) was observed when fabricated a quasi-solid state dye-sensitized solar cells using these high conducting polymer electrolyte. The quasi-solid cells with the polymer electrolyte show higher open circuit voltage than that of the liquid cells that may be due to the suppression of the back electron transfer between the conduction band of the TiO 2 electrode and the triiodide ion in the electrolyte.

Enhancing the performance of dye-sensitized solar cells by incorporating nanomica in gel electrolytes

Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, 2010

The photoelectrochemical properties of a high molar extinction coefficient charge transfer organic dye containing thienylfluorene segment called FL, and the effect of incorporating TiO 2 nanotube (TiNT) in TiO 2 nanoparticle film along with the above dye on the photovoltaic performance of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) were investigated. The influence of soaking time of the TiO 2 electrode in dye solution and the effect of varying its concentration, on the solar cell efficiency was also studied. Cyclic voltammetric (CV) analysis revealed the linear relationship between the anodic peak current and the scan rate, indicating a surface-confined diffusion process.

Functional transparent quasi-solid state dye-sensitized solar cells made with different oligomer organic/inorganic hybrid electrolytes

Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, 2017

Five different hybrid organic-inorganic materials were synthesized using either O,O 0-Bis(2-aminopropyl) polypropylene glycol of various molecular weights (230, 400, and 2000), O,O 0-Bis(2-aminopropyl) polyethylene glycol (900) or O,O 0-Bis(2-aminopropyl) polypropylene glycol-block-polyethylene glycolblock-polypropylene glycol (600) and 3-isocyanatopropyltriethoxysilane to employ them as gelato agents and ionic conductors for quasi-solid state electrolytes in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Initially the electrolytes were liquid enabling the electrolyte molecules to penetrate the semiconductor's nanoparticles and as the acetic acid solvolysis evolved, they jellified, bonding the two electrodes together. The different electrolytes were thermally characterized for their stability while their electrical conductivity was also measured. Functional quasi-solid state DSSCs were accomplished with transparent TiO 2 films which were deposited on conductive glasses using a spin coating method. The structural properties of the photoanodes were investigated with scanning electron microscopy and porosimetry analysis. The experimental results indicated that the thickness of the fabricated transparent films was between 3.5 and 4.2 μm. The dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) made with transparent TiO 2 films were electrically studied to determine if there are any variations to their performance employing the different quasi-solid state electrolytes. The results indicated comparable results for all the cells and an overall performance of 3.3-3.9% to the conversion of the solar light to electrical energy depending on the hybrid material in the quasi-solid electrolyte.

Development of quasi solid state dye sensitized solar cells

Advanced materials proceedings, 2021

Dye Sensitized Solar Cells (DSSCs) present a significant renewable energy source in terms of control of different parameters governing flexibility, efficiency, lifetime and cost. The liquid electrolytes used inside the cells are generally responsible for the leakage and inefficient encapsulation related issues. These are critical for practical applications of DSSCs. The choice of electrolyte medium used in the cell should take into account the fast regeneration of electrolyte and redox potential of the dye. Organic dyes in general, exhibit better extinction coefficients and variant color ranges. The present work is focused on quasi solid state DSSCs based on an organic dye. For the fabrication of devices, nanocrystalline titanium-dioxide (TiO 2) films were used as the photoanode and well known organic dye Eosin B as the sensitizer. The photovoltaic performance of the cells was measured at different light intensities. The results exhibited the quantum efficiency of organic dye Eosin B which can be used as a potential sensitizer in conjugation with quasi solid state electrolytes.

Photovoltaic performance of quasi-solid state dye sensitized solar cells based on perylene dye and modified TiO2 photo-electrode

Synthetic Metals, 2010

The influence of compact layer of TiO 2 between FTO and nano-porous TiO 2 on the charge transport and photovoltaic properties of quasi-solid state dye sensitized solar cells with polymer gel electrolyte and perylene derivative dye as sensitizer was investigated. The PEDOT:PSS/graphite/FTO was used as counter electrodes for present investigation. The modification of photo-electrode significantly improve the power conversion efficiency (2.94%) of the solar cells attributed to the higher electron lifetime and reduction in recombination processes as indicated by the electro-chemical impedance spectra of the solar cell. The compact layer provide a large TiO 2 /FTO contact area, reduce the electron recombination by blocking the direct contact with the redox couple in the electrolyte and efficient collection of electrons by FTO electrode. Finally, the incorporation of TiO 2 nano-particle in the polymer electrolyte further improves the power conversion efficiency (3.2%) of the device attributed to the improved ion transport.

Novel Method to Improve Performance of Dye-sensitized Solar Cells Based on Quasi-solid Gel-Polymer Electrolytes

Electrochimica Acta, 2015

This manuscript is concerned with the successful attempts we have made to circumvent the problems associated with I À /I 3 À redox couple-containing, ethylene carbonate (EC) and propylene carbonate (PC)plasticized, polyacrylonitrile (PAN)-based gel polymer electrolyte used in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs). We identify the poor pore filling by a quasi-solid to be the major obstacle impeding the performance of such DSCs. In the systematic study reported here, we have prepared four types of DSCs, (a) with only the redox couple containing plasticized gel-polymer electrolyte sandwiched between two electrodes, (b) same electrolyte but hot-pressed for the gel to better penetrate into the pores of the dyed, interconnected, nanocrystalline TiO 2 matrix, (c) pores filled with the usual liquid electrolyte (acetonitrile containing I À /I 3 À redox couple) but reducing the problems of volatile liquids by sealing the pores containing the liquid electrolyte by pressed PAN gel electrolyte and (d) DSC with the usual liquid electrolyte. The efficiencies of the DSCs from (a) to (d) are 4.1%, 5.2%, 8.4% and 9.8%, respectively. The enhanced efficiencies in this order are clearly due to significant enhancements in the short-circuit photocurrent densities of the cells. Our novel invention of (c) cells overcome the problems associated with DSCs based on quasi-solid state gel polymer electrolytes as well as those based on usual less viscous liquid electrolytes. The efficiencies of such former cells (c) are very close to those of the latter cells (d). This simple method can be universally adopted for all quasi-solid-state electrolyte-based DSCs in order to improve their performance and durability.

Characteristics of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) using liquid and gel polymer electrolytes with tetrapropylammonium salt

Optical and Quantum Electronics, 2020

Dye-sensitized solar cells are expected to be used as future clean energy. Most of the researchers in the field of the dye-sensitized solar cells use Ruthenium complex as dye. On the other hand, we have proposed the dye-sensitized solar cells using natural dyes, such as dye of red-cabbage and curcumin. In this paper, we use new electrolyte solution for the solar cells using dye of curcumin. As a result, a conversion efficiency of about 1.3% has been obtained (light source: halogen lamp).

Polymer electrolyte based on polyethylene glycol for quasi-solid state dye sensitized solar cells

Renewable Energy, 2012

A gel polymer electrolyte containing I À /I 3 À redox couple was prepared using polyethylene glycol (PEG) as polymer matrix and propylene carbonate (PC) as organic solvent by solegel method. A dye sensitized solar cell (DSSC) employing the gel polymer electrolyte gives an open-circuit voltage of 0.7 V and a shortcircuit current of 8.1 mA cm À2 at an incident light intensity of 100 mW cm À2. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy was utilized to examine the chemical properties of produced gel electrolytes. Unlike the conventional covalent bond that bridges the different polymer segments, in this study, it was observed that hydrogen bonds bridged polyethylene glycol and propylene carbonate. Influences of different synthetic parameters such as reaction time and temperature were also investigated. Optimal DSSC performance was observed at electrolyte reaction temperature and time of 100 C and 24 h, respectively, with a maximum photoelectric energy conversion efficiency of 2.2%.