A polymer electrolyte containing ionic liquid for possible applications in photoelectrochemical solar cells
Artikel i vetenskaplig tidskrift, 2010
Various iodide ion conducting polymer electrolytes
have been studied as candidate materials for fabricating
photoelectrochemical (PEC) solar cells and energy
storage devices. In this study, enhanced ionic conductivity
values were obtained for the ionic liquid tetrahexylammonium
iodide containing polyethylene oxide (PEO)-based
plasticized electrolytes. The analysis of thermal properties
revealed the existence of two phases in the electrolyte, and
the conductivity measurements showed a marked conductivity
enhancement during the melting of the plasticizer-rich
phase of the electrolyte. Annealed electrolyte samples
showed better conductivity than nonannealed samples,
revealing the existence of hysteresis. The optimum conductivity
was shown for the electrolytes with PEO:salt=
100:15 mass ratio, and this sample exhibited the minimum
glass transition temperature of 72.2 °C. For this optimum
PEO to salt ratio, the conductivity of nonannealed electrolyte
was 4.4×10−4 S cm−1 and that of the annealed sample
was 4.6×10−4 S cm−1 at 30 °C. An all solid PEC solar cell
was fabricated using this annealed electrolyte. The short
circuit current density (ISC), the open circuit voltage (VOC),
and the power conversion efficiency of the cell are
0.63 mA cm−2, 0.76 V, and 0.47% under the irradiation of
600 W m−2 light.
Ionic liquid
Ionic conductivity
Polymer electrolyte
PEC solar cells