Solid Polymer Electrolytes to be used in Dye Sensitized Solar Cells

Edwin C. Constable^a, Catherine E. Housecroft^a, Markus Willgert^a

^aDepartment of Chemistry, University of Basel, Spitalstrasse, 51, Basel, Switzerland

International Conference on Hybrid and Organic Photovoltaics
Proceedings of International Conference on Hybrid and Organic Photovoltaics 2015 (HOPV15)

Roma, Italy, 2015 May 11th - 13th

Organizer: Filippo De Angelis

Poster, Markus Willgert, 426
Publication date: 5th February 2015

Currently, a considerable amount of research is carried out globally to enable the usage of dye sensitized solar cell (DSSC) devices and make them more commercially passable. Among the challenges at hand is the electrolyte component within the DSSC which often contains volatile organic solvents. These solvents typically have the disadvantage, besides of being toxic and environmentally unfriendly, of evaporating and leaking out over time, lowering the performance and shortening the lifetime of the cell. One way to encounter this problem is to replace the liquid electrolyte with a solid constituent that can perform the same task of conducting the active redox couple. Over the years, poly(ethylene glycol), (PEG), have gained increased interest as the solid content of the electrolyte due to its good ion conducting abilities. In the work presented, PEGs are used to provide ion conducting media to replace electrolytes. Films, which are polymerized in a solvent free, rapid UV initiated polymerization process, are activated with dye through immersion in dye baths. The functionalized films are then dried under vacuum to remove any residual volatile solvent. Finally, the well-defined, dry, free standing, electrolytes are placed between the electrodes in the DSSC. The performance of DSSCs with different metal-containing dyes will be discussed. Initial results show cell efficiencies around 5% with a fill factor of above 60% for the ruthenium sensitized cells.

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