Effect of ionic liquids on the performance of dye-sensitized solar cells using poly(vinyl alcohol)/ polypyrrole based polymer electrolytes

Abstract

ABSTRACT A novel quasi-solid-state polymer electrolyte was prepared using poly(vinyl alcohol)-polypyrrole, potassium iodide, iodine, and ethylene carbonate mixed with two types of ionic liquids, 1-methyl-3-propylimidazolium iodide (MPII) and 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium iodide (EMII). The prepared polymer electrolyte was structurally characterized by FTIR spectroscopy. The lowest degree of crystallinity and activation energy were found in the MPII-incorporated polymer electrolytes. Higher values of dislocation density and microstrain are obtained for ionic liquid-incorporated polymer electrolytes. The lowest value of series resistance was observed in MPII-based polymer electrolyte and thereby the conduction was increased. The average roughness of the MPII-based polymer electrolyte at 17.901 nm was strongly dependent on the influence of the MPII content. The dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC) built with MPII-based polymer electrolytes have achieved the highest photo-conversion efficiency of 4.51% under 100mWcm−2 illumination.