Hybrid iodine-pseudohalogen ionic liquid based electrolytes for solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells

Dirk Guldi^a, Annkatrin Lennert^a, Rubén Costa^a, Karsten Meyer^b, Michelle Sternberg^b

^aFriedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Department of Chemistry and Pharmacy & Interdisciplinary Center of Molecular Materials (ICMM), Egerlandstr. 3, Erlangen, 91058, Germany

^bFriedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), Erlangen, Germany

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

Poster, Annkatrin Lennert, 317
Publication date: 5th February 2015

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) are viewed as a promising route among renewable energies to sustain the energy demand for the future, owing to their highly efficient solar energy conversion processes and their cheap production.^[1]Although recent efforts have focused on optimizing the electrode morphology and the dye features,^[2,3] their short lifetime is still a bottleneck in terms of commercialization. This is mainly caused by the use of solvent-based electrolytes, which are unstable as a function of time due to solvent leakage and evaporation processes. This becomes even more prominent under outdoor temperature conditions (50 - 80 ^oC).^[4] Hence, the long-term objective is to develop solid-state DSSCs featuring high performances and stabilities under the above-mentioned conditions.^[4,5] A common approach to substitute the organic solvent is the use of ionic liquids.^[5] Ionic liquid based DSSCs reveal better stabilities under outdoor temperature conditions compared to standard DSSCs.^[6] However, the low open-circuit voltage (V_OC) limits the overall efficiency of solid-state DSSCs. In this contribution, mixtures of doubly alkyl-substituted imidazolium liquids were tested as novel hybrid iodine-pseudohalogen solid-state electrolytes to increase V_OC en-route towards highly efficient solid-state DSSCs. Combining our symmetrically substituted ionic liquids with additives like GuSCN, 4-tert-butylpyridine, etc. ensures that the electrolyte remains in a viscous state throughout the working temperature range. As a matter of fact, excellent diffusion and optimum wetting of the semiconductor without leakage of the electrolyte were realized resulting in DSSCs with efficiencies of up to 7 % over 1000 h under outdoor conditions.

[1] Lin, H.; Hao, F. Recent molecular engineering of room temperature ionic liquid electrolytes for mesoscopic dye-sensitized solar cells. RSC Adv., 2013, 3, 23521 [2] Ma, Y.; Wang, X.; Jia, Y.; Chen, X.; Han, H.; Li, C. Titanium Dioxide-based Nanomaterials for Photocatalytic Fuel Generations Chem. Rev., 2014, 114, 9987 [3] Basheer, B.; Mathew, D.; George, B. K.; Nair, C. P. R. An Overview on the Spectrum of Sensitizers: The Heart of Dye Sensitized Solar Cells. Solar Energy, 2014, 108, 479 [4] Asghar,M. I.; Miettunen, K.; Halme, J.; Vahermaa, P.; Toivola, M.; Aitolaa, K.; Lunda, P. Review of stability for advanced dye solar cells Energy Environ. Sci., 2010, 3, 418 [5] MacFarlane,D. R.; Tachikawa, N.; Forsyth, M.; Pringle, J. M.; Howlett, P. C.; Elliott, G. D.; Davis Jr., J. H.; Watanabe, M.; Simon, P.; Angell, C. A. Energy Applications of Ionic Liquids. Energy Environ. Sci., 2014, 7, 232 [6] Berginc, M.; Krasovec, U. O.; Topic, M. Outdoor Ageing of the Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell Under Different Operation Regimes Sol. Energ. Mat. Sol. C., 2014, 120, 491

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