Low-cost tetra ethylene glycol derivatives in polymer blend electrolytes for dye-sensitized solar cells with high photovoltaic conversion efficiencies

Abstract

The present study reports on a novel polymer blend electrolyte system comprised of poly(ethylene oxide), poly(vinylidene fluoride) and poly (methyl methacrylate) (PEO/PVdF/PMMA) with potassium iodide, iodine and novel and cost effective organic compounds such as 1-(2-(2-(2-(2-(benzoate)ethoxy)ethoxy)ethoxy)ethoxy) benzene (BEB) and 1-(2-(2-(2-(2-(1H-pyrazol-1-yl)ethoxy)ethoxy)ethoxy)ethyl)-1H-pyrazole (PEP) for dye-sensitized solar cell applications. The influence of the synthesized organic compounds on the ionic and photovoltaic characteristics of the electrolytes was studied. In specific, the PEO/PVdF/PMMA/KI/I2/PEP blend electrolyte exhibited high ionic conductivity of 6.3 × 10−4 S cm−1 and the corresponding DSSC demonstrated an enhanced conversion efficiency of 9%. The high photovoltaic conversion efficiency of the cell with the PEP-doped system can be attributed to the higher conductivities in the polymer electrolyte associated with the greater cross-linking and the increased I−/I3− transportation along the interaction of the tetra ethylene glycol derivative, salt and the polymer matrix.