Mixed Cations Polymer Gel Electrolytes for Quasi-Solid-State Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

The electrolyte acts as a charge transport mediator between the photoanode and the counter electrode of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). However, liquid electrolyte limits the lifetime of DSSCs owing to leakage and high volatility issues. Thus, polymer gel electrolytes (PGEs) have been developed to minimize these problems. In this article, PGEs have been synthesized by employing polyvinylpyrrolidone as a host polymer and potassium iodide (KI) and ammonium iodide (NH4I) as iodide salts. The PGE comprising of mixed salt (KI + NH4I) shows a higher conductivity compared with PGEs with single salt at room temperature. The ionic conductivity of PGEs directly affects the efficiency of DSSCs. The solar cell assembled with mixed salt (0.02g KI + 0.05g NH4I) PGE shows the power conversion efficiency of 0.121% superior to that of DSSCs fabricated with KI (0.061%) and NH4I (0.068%) based PGEs separately.

Automated summary

This article explores the synthesis of polymer gel electrolytes (PGEs) and the impact of their composition on the efficiency of DSSCs, finding that PGEs containing mixed salt (KI + NH4I) exhibit higher conductivity and power conversion efficiency.