A microelectrode study of triiodide diffusion coefficients in mixtures of room temperature ionic liquids, useful for dye-sensitised solar cells

The diffusion coefficients of triiodide in binary mixtures of ionic liquids at 25 +/- 0.05 degrees C were determined via steady-state cyclic voltammetry at platinum disk microelectrodes in five different electrolyte systems, all representing potential ionic liquid based electrolytes for dye-sensitised solar cells. These electrolytes were composed of iodine, 1-methyl-3-propylimidazolium iodide (acting as iodide source) and a second lower viscous ionic liquid, namely 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium dicyanamide, 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate or 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide) and were investigated either at fixed ionic liquid composition and varying iodine concentration or at fixed iodine concentration and varying 1-methyl-3-propylimidazolium iodide content. To check and optimise our measurement set-up, four Pt disk microelectrodes with four different electrode radii (0.3-5 mu m) were tested at a well known system (ferrocene/tetraethylammonium tetrafluoroborate/acetonitrile solutions). The radius of each electrode was controlled by scanning electron microscopy at the beginning and during the work.