In-situ construction of dual-physical-network within ionic liquid crystals in photoelectrochemical devices for enhancing mechanical strength and charge transport as efficient solid-state electrolytes

Abstract

Electrolyte is one of the most crucial components in energy devices determining the efficiency and durability. However, achieving desirable electrolytes combining good comprehensive performance remains huge challenges. Herein, high-performance solid-state electrolytes were developed for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) by constructing dual-physical-network within smectic ionic liquid crystals. The dual-physical-network, consisting of two polymer chains, self-aggerated at interfaces of original smectic domains, which solidified the lamellar nanostructures within smectic domains to promote the mechanical strength, and benefited the interfacial charge transport crossing the domains to enhance the ion conduction. The dual-network based smectic electrolytes could be in-situ constructed within DSSCs. The prepared DSSCs exhibited significant improvement in energy conversion efficiency, whilst operated steadily at 80 °C and showed long-termed stable performance for 2000 h. The approach here shed a new light for exploring solid-state electrolytes with an excellent comprehensive performance in charge transport efficiency, mechanical strength, and device stability for advanced energy devices.