Proceedings of 6th International Conference on Hybrid and Organic Photovoltaics (HOPV14)
Publication date: 1st March 2014
The redox electrolyte is one of the key components in the Dye Sensitized Solar Cell (DSSC), and its properties have great influence on both the efficiency and stability of the devices. Thus far the most commonly used mediator is the family of I3-/I- electrolyte.The demands on the liquid redox electrolyte are that they should be chemically stable, have low viscosity in order to minimize transport problems, and be a good solvent for the redox couple components and various additives but at the same time not cause significant dissolution of adsorbed dye[1]. However, the use of liquid electrolyte may cause leakage and volatilization, which would limit the stability and practical application of DSSCs. Solid materials can solve above problems, therefore solid-state and quasi solid-state electrolyte such as ionic liquid, especially these with 1,3-dialkylimidazolium cations,have been developed to apply as promising alternatives in the field of DSSC [2].The ionic liquidhas unique properties, such as negligible vapor pressure, excellent electrochemical and thermal stability, and high ionic conductivity. However, the major problem with using these promising solvents in devices is high viscosity of ionic liquid electrolyte. It contributes to the low diffusion coefficient of the I3- and slow electron transfer between redox couple, obviously, if the charge transport mechanism is truly physical. To increase rates of electron hoping between I‑ and I3-, catalytic sites must be introduced to achieve fast dissociation of iodine (I2), or triiodide (I3-), molecule by inducing the I-I bond breaking. It has been well-established that platinum exhibits strong interactions with iodine or iodide and monoatomic iodine chemisorbs readily on platinum and other noble metal. Formation of the monolayer type coverages of strongly adsorbed monoatomic iodine together with weakly bound electroactive iodine/iodide was also postulated. In the present work, we explore the respective interfacial (electrocatalytic) phenomena on nanostructured iodine-modified platinum (or other noble metal, carbon nanotubes or certain metal oxide nanoparticles) distributed three-dimensionally in the electrolyte phase, which is based on semi-solid ionic-liquid dialkylimidazolium cations. Mentioned hybrid systems are utilized to enhance iodine/iodide electron transfers and to develop a new generation of ultra-fast charge relays for DSSC. The diagnostic experiments have been performed using the planar three-electrode cell, an ultramicrodisk electrode and two-electrode type sandwich configuration. Regardless the mechanism, charge transport rates characteristic of the semi-solid redox conducting electrolyte, when expressed in diffusional terms, have been found on the level as high as 10-6 cm2 s-1.
[1]. A. Hagfeldt et al., Chem. Rev. 110 (2010) 6595 [2]. J. Chen, J. Xia, K. Fan, T. Peng, Electrochimica Acta 56 (2011) 5554