Crystallography as Forensic Tool for Understanding Electrolyte Degradation in Dye–sensitized Solar Cells

Abstract

AbstractThe precipitation of solid compounds from model electrolytes for liquid dye‐sensitized solar cells has a story to tell regarding decomposition processes to be expected in such systems. Of course, the crystal lattice energy for a specific crystalline compounds plays a role in what compound that will eventually precipitate, but the compounds nevertheless serve as indicators for what type of processes that take place in the solar cell electrolytes upon ageing. From the compounds isolated in this study we learn that both ligand exchange processes, double‐salt precipitation and oxidation are degradation processes that should not be overlooked when formulating efficient and stable electrolytes for this type of electrochemical system.