Open AccessElectrical properties enhancement of Liquid and Polymer Gel based electrolytes used for DSSC applications
Author(s) -
Shivani Arora Abrol,
Cherry Bhargava,
Pardeep Kumar Sharma
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
materials research express
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2053-1591
DOI - 10.1088/2053-1591/abc2a2
Subject(s) - electrolyte , conductivity , ionic conductivity , dye sensitized solar cell , materials science , analytical chemistry (journal) , chemical engineering , distilled water , ionic liquid , triiodide , electrode , chemistry , chromatography , organic chemistry , catalysis , engineering
Electrolytes have been considered a major component of DSSC and play a vital role in determining the ionic conductivity and efficiency of the cell. Emphasis was laid on the confirming the conductivity upon fabrication of an electrolyte using in situ gelation process from a newfangled combination of Triiodide (KI/I 2 /Glacial acetic acid/distilled water) and gel-based polymer electrolyte (Gelator: PMMA/THF/PC/EC) in the ratio 8:2. The electrolyte portion so framed generated a photo conversion efficiency of 11.32% and a fill factor of 0.439. The conductivity of the sample characterized by Scanning Electron Microscopy showed that the uniform tracks confirmed extreme ionic conductivity of the blend electrolyte which showed dependance on the layered movement of PMMA- co- THF- KI2/PC/EC based electrolyte system. Energy Dispersive x-ray Analysis (EDX) reports engrained the percentage weight proportions of conductive elements (C & O with a wt% of 65.48 and 30.18 in one spectrum and K & I with a wt% of 44.7 & 35.25 in another spectrum respectively). FTIR test analysis was performed to identify the functional groups of the PGE which identified the ionic conductivity of the sample, shown by the intensity of peak absorbance in the range 400–4000 cm −1 . Further it was observed, the conductivity of the different concentrations of the liquid and gelator solution demonstrated an increase in exhibiting ionic conductivity and the same was depicted by the morphological studies that featured dark pores of the sample which were spread consistently indicating the amorphous nature of the material (at room temperature).