Influence of nanomaterial fillers in biopolymer electrolyte system for squaraine-based dye-sensitized solar cells

• Main Authors: Chan, Stephanie, Bantang, Jose Paolo O., Camacho, Drexel
• Format: text
• Published: Animo Repository 2015
• Subjects: Biopolymers; Electrolytes; Dye-sensitized solar cells; Nanostructured materials; Chemistry
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/faculty_research/2313
• Institution: De La Salle University

The vast use of fossil fuel demands the development of new sources of renewable energy. Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) have been extensively studied due to their competitive cost, ease of fabrication, high degree of tunability and relatively good-energy conversion efficiencies. The performance and stability of DSSCs are limited by leakage and solvent evaporation. This study explores the effects of nanofillers in the performance of dye-sensitized solar cells by incorporating nano-sized titanium dioxide, iron (III) oxide and halloysite fillers into the polymer electrolytes based on κ-carrageenan/DMSO/TBAI:I2. Optimization and characterization of various concentrations of fillers were done before incorporation in solar cells. The effect of ionic conductivity and diffusion coefficient to the overall conversion efficiency of the cells were studied. The effect of squaraine dye was also investigated. The addition of various fillers to the polymer electrolyte system increased the dissociation of iodide ions and improved the ionic conductivity of the cells. The diffusion coefficient of tri-iodide ions was also greatly enhanced because of the increased volume of the system brought about by reducing polymer-polymer interaction, which increased the mobility of the redox couple (I3-/I-). DSSC characterization revealed a low efficiency due to a relatively high charge transfer resistances at the TiO2/dye/electrolyte interface. © 2015 The Authors.