Performance of 4-Subsituted Pyridine Based Additive and Cobalt Redox in Poly(ethylene glycol)–Hydroxyethylcellulose Polymer Electrolytes with DTTCY Acid Sensitizer on Dye Sensitized Solar Cells

Abstract

The photovoltaic performance of dye-sensitized solar cells fabricated with newly designed and synthesized heterocyclic aromatic pyridine based additive is described. The incorporation of the 4-subsituted pyridine based additive into the quasi-solid state polymer blend of poly­(ethylene glycol)–hydroxyethylcellulose (PEG-HEC) with Co2+/3+[bnbip] redox mediator as electrolyte and (E)-3-(5-((E)-2-(1-(5-(2,2-bis­(4-(dimethylamino)­phenyl)­vinyl)­thiophen-2-yl)-1H-indol-3-yl)-1-cyanovinyl)­thiophen-2-yl)-2-cyanoacrylic acid (DTTCY) as organic photosensitizer has been investigated. The influences of synthesized additives in current–voltage characteristics and photoelectro behavior of devices assembled with [TiO2/DTTCY/Co2+/3+[bnbip]/additive/PEG-HEC/Pt] device were investigated. The presence of different additives in the gel polymer matrix enhanced the photovoltage and was related to the negative shift that occurred in the Quasi Fermi level of TiO2 and also higher charge relaxation time. These additives probably reduce the recombination reaction between the TiO2 surface and the Co3+ ion that boosts the photocurrent (J SC) and PCE of the DSSCs. Furthermore, additives affect the catalytic behavior of the Pt electrode, trap diffusion of the Co3+ species, and charge transfer resistance that limits J sc produced by the device. The PAZ additive possesses an azaindole moiety with bicyclic ring attached on the fourth position of the pyridine, which greatly supports the device for exhibiting good ionic conductivity (1.46 × 10–3 S cm–1), high chemical capacitance (C μ = 11.96 μF), high recombination resistance (9.78 Ω), and lower charge transfer resistance (54.98 Ω) compared with other pyridine based additives. The overall results were also sustained with dielectric constant, dielectric loss, and electrical modulus studies. The cell integrated with PAZ additive generates a maximum J SC of 13.59 mA cm–2 and V oc of 912 mV, yielding an overall power conversion efficiency η of 5.82% under simulated sunlight with 1.5AM condition (i.e., 100 mW cm–2). These QS-DSSCs possess long-term stability for 196 h at ambient conditions.

Effect of a locust bean gum based gel electrolyte with nanocomposite additives on the performance of a dye-sensitized solar cell

“…The electron lifetime values are given in Table 1 and are calculated by the following equation,where f max is the maximum frequency range. 59–61 LGE1 and LGE2 showed a shorter electron lifetime. After the addition of nanocomposites into LGE3, it showed a longer electron lifetime (101.10 ms).…”

High‐Voltage Quasi‐Solid‐State Dye‐Sensitized Solar Cells Based on Copper Redox Shuttles

“…While they became defunct when copper and cobalt redox shuttles were applied in the GPEs. These shuttles possess larger molecular sizes and more limited mass transport limit, resulting in a much lower [27][28][29][30] brown circle represented those from iodine redox shuttles [31-33,11c,12a,b] ). D app in quasi-solid-state DSSCs compared to the iodide-based ones.…”

Review on Functional Electrolyte, Redox Polymers, and Solar Conversions in 3G Emerging Photovoltaic Technologies: Progress and Outlook

“…Kamaraj et al developed a functionalized pyridine-(additive-) dependent poly(ethylene glycol)−hydroxyethyl cellulose electrolyte to achieve a solar conversion efficiency of 5.82% in DSSC. 14 PEO-based gel electrolytes have been reported with 6.69% efficiency, comparatively higher than that of the liquid electrolyte (4.39%). 15 Biopolymer (cellulose, chitosan, agarose, carrageenan, and starch) electrolytes have been reported extensively owing to abundant complexation and interaction centers in their structure which make them attractive design for various DSSCs.…”

“…Yee et al developed poly­(propylene) carbonate gel electrolyte using a binary salt to yield low activation (0.15 eV) energy conversion efficiency 5.49% in DSSC. Kamaraj et al developed a functionalized pyridine- (additive-) dependent poly­(ethylene glycol)–hydroxyethyl cellulose electrolyte to achieve a solar conversion efficiency of 5.82% in DSSC . PEO-based gel electrolytes have been reported with 6.69% efficiency, comparatively higher than that of the liquid electrolyte (4.39%) .…”