Acta Phys. -Chim. Sin. ›› 2012, Vol. 28 ›› Issue (12): 2852-2860.doi: 10.3866/PKU.WHXB201210091

• ELECTROCHEMISTRY AND NEW ENERGY • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Quasi-Solid State Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells Based on the Novel Crosslinked Polymer Electrolyte

LIANG Gui-Jie1,2, ZHONG Zhi-Cheng1, XU Jie3, ZHANG Zeng-Chang1, CHEN Mei-Hua1, LI Zai-Fang1, HE Ping1   

  1. 1 Research Center for Materials Science & Engineering, Hubei University of Arts and Science, Xiangyang 441053, P. R. China;
    2 State Key Laboratory for Mechanical Behavior of Materials, Xi'an Jiao Tong University, Xi'an 710049, P. R. China;
    3 Key Laboratory of Green Processing and Functional Textiles of New Textile Materials, Ministry of Education, Wuhan Textile University, Wuhan 430073, P. R. China
  • Received:2012-06-18 Revised:2012-09-29 Published:2012-11-14
  • Supported by:

    The project was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51003082), Key Project of Science and Technology Research of the Ministry of Education of China (208089), and Natural Science Foundation of Hubei Province, China (2011CDC062).

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Abstract:

A quasi-solid-state three-dimensionally crosslinked poly(citric acid-ethylene glycol) (PCE)/ LiI/I2 polymer electrolyte has been prepared using biodegradable PCE synthesized via a crosslinking reaction between citric acid (CA) and oligo-polyethylene glycol (PEG) (average molecular weight Mw= 200, 400, 1000, 2000) as a matrix. The molecular structure of the PCE matrix, micro-morphology of polymer electrolyte, and the state of conductive ion-pairs in the electrolyte were characterized by infrared (IR) spectrum, 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (1H-NMR), and Raman spectroscopy, as well as scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The ionic diffusion coefficient and conductivity of polymer electrolytes and the output current-voltage (I-V) properties of the cells were investigated via linear sweep voltammetry. The results reveal that PEG molecular weights influence the mesh morphology and the absorbent properties of the PCE matrix, which influences the polymer electrolyte ionic conductive performance and the photoelectric performance of the cells. As PEG molecular weights increased from 200, 400, 1000 to 2000, the PCE matrix mesh structure became looser, the liquid electrolyte uptake of the matrix increased, and the transition activation energies of I3- in the swollen PCE matrix decreased, which led to an increase in the electrolyte conductivity and the short circuit photocurrent densities of the cells accordingly. The photoelectric conversion efficiencies of the cells assembled by the four polymer electrolytes above were 3.26%, 3.34%, 4.26%, and 4.89%, respectively, under an incident light intensity of 60 mW·cm-2.

Key words: Polymer electrolyte, Polyethylene glycol molecular weight, Cross-linking, Absorbent property, Ionic conductivity