An all-solid-state lamellar-nanostructured polymer electrolyte in-situ-prepared from smectic liquid crystal for thermally stable dye-sensitized solar cells

Abstract

A novel all-solid-state polymer electrolyte based on thiolate/disulfide redox couple was in-situ prepared from a lamellar-assembled liquid crystal precursor for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The use of the thiolate/disulfide redox couple allowed the in-situ polymerization, which ensured both preservation of the lamellar nanostructure in electrolyte and sufficient interfacial contact in DSSC. Electrochemical analysis revealed that the lamellar-nanostructured electrolyte possessed charge transport ability and photovoltaic performance quite close to the liquid crystal electrolyte precursor. The resultant all-solid-state DSSCs showed a thermally stable photovoltaic performance with PCE higher than 2% from 35 to 90 °C. The method in using in-situ polymerization of nanostructured liquid crystals to prepare solid-state electrolytes shed a new light for efficient and stable all-solid-state DSSC preparation, especially in large-scale actual application.