Efficiency enhancement by mixed cation effect in dye-sensitized solar cells with a PVdF based gel polymer electrolyte
This paper reports the effect of using a mixed iodide salt system with two dissimilar cations to enhance the efficiency of dye-sensitized solar cells made with polyvinylidenefluoride (PVdF) based gel electrolyte. Instead of a single iodide salt, a mixture of potassium iodide (KI) with a small K+ cat...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English English |
| Published: |
Elsevier Limited
2014
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://irep.iium.edu.my/58500/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/58500/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/58500/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/58500/1/58500_Efficiency%20enhancement_complete%20article.pdf http://irep.iium.edu.my/58500/2/58500_Efficiency%20enhancement_scopus.pdf |
| Summary: | This paper reports the effect of using a mixed iodide salt system with two dissimilar cations to enhance the efficiency of dye-sensitized solar cells made with polyvinylidenefluoride (PVdF) based gel electrolyte. Instead of a single iodide salt, a mixture of potassium iodide (KI) with a small K+ cation and tetrapropylammonium iodide (Pr4NI) with a bulky Pr 4N+ cation were used to provide the required iodide ion conductivity. Solar cells of configuration FTO/TiO2/Dye/electrolyte/ Pt/FTO were fabricated using a mesoporous TiO2 electrode sensitized with a Ruthenium dye (N719). With identical electrolyte compositions, the cells with KI and Pr4NI alone gave efficiencies of 2.37% and 2.90% respectively. The cell with the mixed iodide system, KI:Pr4NI = 16.6:83.4 (% weight ratio), however, showed an enhanced efficiency of 3.92% with a short circuit current density of 9.16 mA cm-2, open circuit voltage of 674.4 mV and a fill factor of 63.4%. |
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