Poly (vinylidene fluoride hexafluoropropylne) and f umed silica based nano composite electrolyte for efficient dye sensitized solar cells

Abstract

Dye sensitized solar cells (DSSC) are considered as most promising molecular phot ovoltaics and cheaper alternative to the conventional silicon based solar cells due to lower fabrication cost and abundance of materials. However, liquid electrolytes employed in most of the DSSC have several disadvantages such as lack of long term stabili ty due to liquid leakage, electrode corrosion and photo decomposition of the medium. Quasi solid state (gel) electrolytes based on various polymers and gelators, can be used to overcome these drawbacks. In this study, it was used a gel electrolyte consisti ng of ethylene carbonate (EC), propylene carbonate (PC), poly (vinylidene fluoride hexafluoropropylne) (PVdF HFP) nanofiber, fumed silica, potassium iodide (KI), tetra propyl ammonium iodide (Pr 4 NI), PMII ionic liquid, and 4 tert Butylpyridine (TBP) in DSS Cs. Nano fiber and fumed silica provide the structural stability for the gel electrolyte which entraps the liquid electrolyte and provides a higher efficiency in DSSCs compared to the conventional gel electrolyte based DSSCs. A short circuit photocurrent d ensity of 13.8 mA cm 2 , an open circuit voltage of 699.2 mV, a fill factor of 66.9%, and an overall efficiency of 6.46% were observed under simulated sunlight of 100 mW cm 2 on a fabricated dye sensitized solar cell in configuration of FTO/TiO 2 electrode/ Ruthenium dye (N719)/ PVdF HFP and fumed silica nanocomposite electrolyte/ Pt/ FTO.