Polymer dispersed liquid crystal as a next generation gel polymer electrolyte for dye-sensitized solar cells.

Muhammad Akmal Kamarudin^a, Tim D. Wilkinson^a, Ammar Ahmed Khan^a, Malik M. Qasim^a

^aUniversity of Cambridge, Centre of Molecular Materials for Photonics and Electronics (CMMPE), Department of Engineering (Division B), JJ Thomson Avenue, United Kingdom

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

Oral, Muhammad Akmal Kamarudin, presentation 264
Publication date: 5th February 2015

Liquid crystals (LCs) are a type of materials that have both the properties of liquid and crystalline phase. Among these discotic and smectic LCs alone have shown charge carrier mobility values of 0.4 to 0.1 cm²/Vs which is considerably higher than that of amorphous materials such as pentacene, phtalocyanine and also conjugated polymers (10^-3cm²/Vs or less).¹^,^2,3^,4 The discovery of conjugated LCs, smectic and discotic LCs at room temperature further improved the charge carrier values above 1 cm²/Vs.⁵ This charge carrier mobility allows for development of electronic devices with the combination of amorphous material and LC. Over the last half century, research in LC has proven a well developed discipline in the field of large displays, optical imaging, thermometers and lasers. However, in recent years, LCs have also made their way into applications like organic solar cells and dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs).⁶^,⁷^,⁸^,9,10 This research work presents the potential for LCs to be incorporated into polymer electrolyte for solar cells application. A series of LC mixtures are prepared to obtain a wide transition range of the LCs. Subsequently, these mixture are dispersed in polymer electrolytes (PVDF-HFP, TBAI, LiI, I₂ and TBP) forming microdroplets within the polymer electrolyte. To characterise the effect these new LC polymer electrolytes on the photovoltaic response, different sets of the DSSCs devices have been fabricated and the interaction between ion transport and the liquid crystal has been studied. The presence of the LC microdroplets is thought to have enhanced the performance of the solar device as they act as light scattering layer and at the same time provide channels for ion transport within the polymer electrolyte.

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