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Ionic liquid crystal-based electrolyte with enhanced charge transport for dye-sensitized solar cells

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Abstract

A room temperature ionic liquid crystal, 1-dodecyl-3-ethylimidazolium iodide (C12EImI), and an ionic liquid, 1-decyl-3-ethylimidazolium iodide (C10EImI), have been synthesized, characterized and employed as the electrolyte for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC). The physicochemical properties show that a smectic A (SmA) phase with a lamellar structure is formed in C12EImI. Both C12EImI and C10EImI have good electrochemical and thermal stability facilitating their use in DSSC. The steady-state voltammograms reveal that the diffusion coefficient of I3 − in C12EImI is larger than that in C10EImI, which is attributed to the existence of the SmA phase in C12EImI. Because the iodide species are located between the layers of imidazolium cations in C12EImI, exchange reaction-based diffusion is increased with a consequent increase in, the overall diffusion. The electrochemical impedance spectrum reveals that charge recombination at the dyed TiO2/electrolyte interface of a C12EImI-based DSSC is reduced due to the increase in I3 − diffusion, resulting in higher open-circuit voltage. Moreover, both short-circuit current density and fill factor of the C12EImI based DSSC increase, as a result of the increasing transport of I3 − in C12EImI. Consequently, the photoelectric conversion efficiency of C12EImI-based DSSC is higher than that of the C10EImI-based DSSC.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Novel Thin Film Solar Cells, Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei, 230031, China

    Xu Pan, Meng Wang, XiaQing Fang, ChangNeng Zhang, ZhiPeng Huo & SongYuan Dai

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  1. Xu Pan
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  2. Meng Wang
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  3. XiaQing Fang
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  4. ChangNeng Zhang
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  5. ZhiPeng Huo
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  6. SongYuan Dai
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Correspondence to SongYuan Dai.

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Pan, X., Wang, M., Fang, X. et al. Ionic liquid crystal-based electrolyte with enhanced charge transport for dye-sensitized solar cells. Sci. China Chem. 56, 1463–1469 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11426-013-4904-y

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