Ultrasonic irradiation to modify the PEO/P(VDF-HFP)/TiO2 nanoparticle composite polymer electrolyte for dye sensitized solar cells

As a novel technology, ultrasonic irradiation was applied to modify the PEO/P(VDF-HFP)/TiO2 nanoparticle composite polymer electrolyte for dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The ultrasonic irradiation effectively changes the rheology and the glass transition temperature and the crystallinity of the composite polymer. The experiments showed that 20 min moderate ultrasonic irradiation resulted in better penetration of the polymer electrolyte into the TiO2 nanoporous photo-anode, and the ionic conductivity was improved to 0.956 ms cm(-1) compared with 0.386 ms cm(-1) of the original polymer electrolyte. The DSSC fabricated with 20 min ultrasonic irradiation modified polymer electrolyte exhibited an improved solar energy conversion efficiency of 4.39% compared with the 3.6% of the unmodified polymer electrolyte DSSC at 30.2 mW cm(-2) light intensity.