Journal
JOURNAL OF MATERIALS CHEMISTRY
Volume 21, Issue 39, Pages 15471-15478Publisher
ROYAL SOC CHEMISTRY
DOI: 10.1039/c1jm11581b
Keywords
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Funding
- National Research Council of Taiwan [NSC 98-2120-M-002-003, NSC 98-3114-E-008-002]
- Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan [AS-97-TP-A08]
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A solid-state composite electrolyte, comprising two ionic liquids and a carbon material, was sandwiched between a dye-sensitized porous TiO2 working electrode and its counter electrode to fabricate a solid-state dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC); the ionic liquids were 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium iodide (EMII, ionic liquid crystal) and 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate (EMIBF4, room temperature ionic liquid), and the carbon materials were carbon black (CB), multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNT), and single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNT). A cell efficiency (eta) of 0.41% was achieved by using the bare 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium iodide (EMII) as the charge transfer intermediate (CTI); an efficiency of 2.52% was achieved for a solid-state DSSC by the incorporation of carbon black (CB) in the same composite electrolyte. To further improve the cell efficiency, we utilized 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate (EMIBF4), a crystal growth inhibitor, as an additive to the electrolyte. The binary CTI (EMII plus EMIBF4) was in the form of a solid, until the weight percentage of EMIBF4 in the binary CTI exceeded the level of 60%. A cell efficiency of 3.09% was obtained using an electrolyte containing the CB and the binary CTI; the binary CTI for this cell contained EMII and EMIBF4 in the ratio of 8/2. When the CB was replaced with MWCNT and SWCNT, the cell efficiency could be improved to 3.53% and 4.01%, respectively. Longterm durability of the DSSC with SWCNT-binary CTI was found to be far superior to that of the cell with an organic solvent electrolyte, and in fact the durability was uninterrupted for at least 1000 h. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and laser-induced photo-voltage transients were used to substantiate the results.
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