Improvement of Dye Sensitized Solar Cells Efficiency Utilizing Diethyl Carbonate in PVA Based Gel Polymer Electrolytes

M. F. Aziz, M. A. Azam, I. M. Noor, M. H. Buraidah, A. K. Arof

Abstract


Low conductivity of gel polymer electrolytes (GPEs) containing double iodide salts is critical for efficiency in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The presence of diethyl carbonate (DEC) plasticizer affects the amorphousness and ionic conductivity of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)-based GPEs and DSSCs performance. In this work, PVA-based GPEs containing a variation of DEC have been produced, characterized, and applied in the DSSCs fabrication. The structural properties of GPEs were analyzed using X-ray diffraction (XRD). The ionic conductivity was determined from electrical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). Based on XRD, GPEs for all prepared compositions have been identified as an amorphous phase. From the EIS measurement, it was found that GPE with the composition of 5.46 PVA - 8.19 EC - 10.92 PC - 60.06 DMSO - 5.73 TPAI - 5.73 KI - 1.34 I2 - 2.57 DEC (in wt. %) having highest conductivity of 11.19 ± 0.20 mS cm-1 with activation energy, Ea of 0.09 eV. The graph of conductivity versus temperature following the Arrhenius rule has been plotted. The GPEs dominate the highest conductive with 2.57% of DEC and showed the DSSCs efficiency of 6.42%. Common DSSCs parameters resulted in short-circuit current density (Jsc) of 17.58 mA cm-2, fill factor (ff) of 0.63, and open-circuit voltage (Voc) of 0.58 V. In conclusion, DEC improves the ionic conductivity as well as amorphous properties of the GPE, and therefore enhance the DSSCs’ efficiency.

Keywords


Diethyl carbonate; electrical impedance spectroscopy; tetrapropyl ammonium iodide; potassium iodide; dye-sensitized solar cells.

Full Text:

PDF

References


K. Yoshikawa, H. Kawasaki, W. Yoshida, T. Irie, K. Konishi, K. Nakano, T. Uto, D. Adachi, M. Kanematsu, H. Uzu, and K. Yamamoto, “Silicon heterojunction solar cell with interdigitated back contacts for a photoconversion efficiency over 26%,†Nat. Energy, vol. 2, no. 5, p. 17032, 2017.

M. Powalla, S. Paetel, E. Ahlswede, R. Wuerz, C. D. Wessendorf, and T. Magorian Friedlmeier, “Thinâ€film solar cells exceeding 22% solar cell efficiency: An overview on CdTe-, Cu(In,Ga)Se2-, and perovskite-based materials,†Appl. Phys. Rev., vol. 5, no. 4, p. 41602, Dec. 2018.

A. Sahu, A. Garg, and A. Dixit, “A review on quantum dot sensitized solar cells: Past, present and future towards carrier multiplication with a possibility for higher efficiency,†Sol. Energy, vol. 203, pp. 210–239, 2020.

N. E. Safie, M. A. Azam, M. F. A. Aziz, and M. Ismail, “Recent progress of graphene-based materials for efficient charge transfer and device performance stability in perovskite solar cells,†Int. J. Energy Res., Sep. 2020.

B. O’Regan and M. Grätzel, “A low-cost, high-efficiency solar cell based on dye-sensitized colloidal TiO2 films,†Nature, vol. 353, no. 6346, pp. 737–740, 1991.

M. Grätzel, “Photoelectrochemical cells,†Nature, vol. 414, no. 6861, pp. 338–344, 2001.

S. Biswas and H. Kim, “Solar cells for indoor applications: Progress and development,†Polymers (Basel)., vol. 12, no. 6, p. 1338, 2020.

M. Grätzel, “Dye-sensitized solar cells,†J. Photochem. Photobiol. C Photochem. Rev., vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 145–153, 2003.

A. Abdukarimov, S. Shah, L. P. Teo, M. H. Buraidah, Z. H. Z. Abidin, O. Mamatkarimov and A. K. Arof, “Characteristics of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) using liquid and gel polymer electrolytes with tetrapropylammonium salt,†Opt. Quantum Electron., vol. 52, no. 3, p. 152, 2020.

L. P. Teo, M. H. Buraidah, and A. K. Arof, “Polyacrylonitrile-based gel polymer electrolytes for dye-sensitized solar cells: a review,†Ionics (Kiel)., vol. 26, no. 9, pp. 4215–4238, 2020.

C. Y. Tan, N. K. Farhana, N. M. Saidi, S. Ramesh, and K. Ramesh, “Conductivity, dielectric studies and structural properties of P(VA-co-PE) and its application in dye sensitized solar cell,†Org. Electron., vol. 56, pp. 116–124, 2018.

T. M. W. J. Bandara, H. D. N. S. Fernando, M. Furlani, I. Albinsson, M. A. K. L. Dissanayake, J. L. Ratnasekera, B.-E. Mellander, “Dependence of solar cell performance on the nature of alkaline counterion in gel polymer electrolytes containing binary iodides,†J. Solid State Electrochem., vol. 21, no. 6, pp. 1571–1578, 2017.

L. P. Teo, T. S. Tiong, M. H. Buraidah, and A. K. Arof, “Effect of lithium iodide on the performance of dye sensitized solar cells (DSSC) using poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO)/poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) based gel polymer electrolytes,†Opt. Mater. (Amst)., vol. 85, pp. 531–537, 2018.

T. M. W. J. Bandara, L. A. DeSilva, J. L. Ratnasekera, K. H. Hettiarachchi, A. P. Wijerathna, M. Thakurdesai, J. Preston, I. Albinsson, B. -E. Mellander, “High efficiency dye-sensitized solar cell based on a novel gel polymer electrolyte containing RbI and tetrahexylammonium iodide (Hex4NI) salts and multi-layered photoelectrodes of TiO2 nanoparticles,†Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev., vol. 103, pp. 282–290, 2019.

S. A. Abrol, C. Bhargava, and P. K. Sharma, “Electrical properties enhancement of Liquid and Polymer Gel based electrolytes used for DSSC applications,†Mater. Res. Express, vol. 7, no. 10, p. 106202, 2020.

M.-J. Jeng, Y.-L. Wung, L.-B. Chang, and L. Chow, “Particle Size Effects of TiO2 Layers on the Solar Efficiency of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells,†Int. J. Photoenergy, vol. 2013, p. 563897, 2013.

S. B. Aziz, A. S. Marf, E. M. A. Dannoun, M. A. Brza, and R. M. Abdullah, “The Study of the Degree of Crystallinity, Electrical Equivalent Circuit, and Dielectric Properties of Polyvinyl Alcohol (PVA)-Based Biopolymer Electrolytes,†Polymers , vol. 12, no. 10. 2020.

M. A. Brza, S. B. Aziz, H. Anuar, and F. Ali, “Structural, ion transport parameter and electrochemical properties of plasticized polymer composite electrolyte based on PVA: A novel approach to fabricate high performance EDLC devices,†Polym. Test., vol. 91, p. 106813, 2020.

S. L. Agrawal, P. K. Shukla, D. Tripathi, and C. P. Singh, “Studies on multiferroic oxide-doped PVA-based nanocomposite gel polymer electrolyte system for electrochemical device application,†Ionics (Kiel)., vol. 25, no. 2, pp. 617–626, 2019.

J. Wang, Z. Zhao, S. Song, Q. Ma, and R. Liu, “High Performance Poly(vinyl alcohol)-Based Li-Ion Conducting Gel Polymer Electrolyte Films for Electric Double-Layer Capacitors,†Polymers (Basel)., vol. 10, no. 11, p. 1179, Oct. 2018.

K.-M. Lee, V. Suryanarayanan, and K.-C. Ho, “High efficiency quasi-solid-state dye-sensitized solar cell based on polyvinyidene fluoride-co-hexafluoro propylene containing propylene carbonate and acetonitrile as plasticizers,†J. Photochem. Photobiol. A Chem., vol. 207, no. 2, pp. 224–230, 2009.

F. I. Chowdhury, M. H. Buraidah, A. K. Arof, B.-E. Mellander, and I. M. Noor, “Impact of tetrabutylammonium, iodide and triiodide ions conductivity in polyacrylonitrile based electrolyte on DSSC performance,†Sol. Energy, vol. 196, pp. 379–388, 2020.

X. Wang, Y. Zhang, Q. Xu, J. Xu, B. Wu, M. Gong, J. Chu, and S. Xiong, “A low-cost quasi-solid DSSC assembled with PVDF-based gel electrolyte plasticized by PC-EC & electrodeposited Pt counter electrode,†Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology A: Chemistry, 311, 112–117, 2015.

V. Poojari, D. Devadiga, N. Hegde, D. N. Sangeetha, M. S. Santosh, and M. Selvakumar, “Conductivity and Electrochemical Behavior of Plasticized Polymer Electrolyte for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell Integrated Supercapacitor,†J. Electrochem. Energy Convers. Storage, vol. 17, no. 3, Feb. 2020.




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18517/ijaseit.12.1.13526

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.



Published by INSIGHT - Indonesian Society for Knowledge and Human Development