High-performance dye-sensitized solar cell based on an electrospun poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene)/cobalt sulfide nanocomposite membrane electrolyte

Abstract

Different weight percentage (1, 2 and 3wt%) of cobalt sulfide incorporated (CoS) incorporated electrospun poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene) (PVdF-HFP) nanocomposite membranes were prepared by electrospinning technique. The surface morphology, crystallinity, porosity and electrolyte uptake of the electrospun nanocomposite membranes were examined. The prepared electrospun PVdF-HFP/CoS nanocomposite membranes (esCPM) were activated by ionic liquid electrolyte containing 0.5M LiI, 0.05M I 2 and 0.5M 4-tert butylpyridine, 0.5M 1-Butyl-3-methylimidazolium iodide in acetonitrile to obtain electrospun PVdF-HFP/CoS nanocomposite membrane electrolytes (esCPMEs). The uniformly dispersed CoS nanoparticles increase the charge transport and facilitate the diffusion of redox couple in the electrolyte system. The electrochemical characteristics of dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) depends on the amount of CoS incorporated in esCPME wasalso studied in detail. The photovoltaic performance of DSSC assembled using 1wt% of CoS incorporated esCPME was measured and it was found to be 7.34%, which is higher than that assembled using esPME (6.42%).

High performance electrospun PVdF‐HFP/SiO2 nanocomposite membrane electrolyte for Li‐ion capacitors

“…The band at 1185 is due to the CC bond of PVdF and 1289 cm −1 is due to the CF Stretching. The peak at 1400 cm −1 corresponds to bending vibration of the vinyl group . It can be seen that the sharp peak appearing at 1100 cm −1 is assigned to the characteristic peak of SiO 2 .…”

Development of a conjugated polyaniline incorporated electrospun poly(vinylidene fluoride‐co‐hexafluoropropylene) composite membrane electrolyte for high performance dye‐sensitized solar cells

“…The Fourier transformed infrared spectra of PVdF‐HFP, PANI and PVdF‐HFP/PANI matrix are shown in Figure . The peaks at about 1397, 880, and 465 cm −1 are due to the C‐F 2 bending, wagging, and stretching vibrations and the peak at 1185 cm −1 is due to CC bond of PVdF . For PANI, the peaks at 1560 and 1490 cm −1 are ascribed to the stretching of quinoid and benzenoid rings, respectively .…”

Natural Polymers for Dye‐Sensitized Solar Cells: Electrolytes and Electrodes

“…While many different PEMs have been proposed in the literature (21,22), only one time the modification of their polymeric matrix has been carried out to somewhat improve current values. In this respect, Chiappone and co-workers proposed the incorporation of nanoscale microfibrillated cellulose (NMFC) in photocross-linked PEMs, to take advantage of their unique crystalline/amorphous alternate domains as light scattering and reflecting agents, thus resulting in high performing bio-based quasi-solid photoelectrochemical cells (23,24).…”