Photoinduced Polyacrylate Based Polymer Electrolyte for Quasi-solid State Dye Sensitized Solar Cell Application

Tingting Xu1,#,Email

Dechong Kong1,# 

Zhenzhen Xi1,2

Tao Huang3 

Xiulan Qin1 

Hongjing Wu4,Email

Kaichang Kou1

Rumin Wang1 

Lixin Chen1

Tingli Ma5

1 Department of Applied Chemistry, School of Natural and Applied Sciences, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, 710129, China

2 SPIC Xi'an Solar Power Co., Ltd, Xi'an, Shaanxi, 710000, China

3 Department of Engineering Mechanics, School of Mechanics, Civil Engineering and Architecture, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, 710129, China

4 Department of Applied Physics, School of Natural and Applied Sciences, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, 710129, China

5 Graduate School of Life Science and Systems Engineering, Kyushu Institute of Technology, 2-4 Hibikino, Wakamatsu, Kitakyushu, Fukuoka, 808-0196, Japan

#These authors contributed equally.

Abstract

A novel polymer electrolyte poly(NAG) prepared from commercially available transparent photocurable nail art glue NAG was successfully developed for quasi-solid state dye sensitized solar cells (QS-DSSCs) application. The functional component in this poly(NAG) was revealed to be acrylate based group from the Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) measurement. Water contact angle tests showed the poly(NAG) films displayed contact angle less than 20° when dripping liquid electrolyte containing iodide/tri-iodide redox couple. Meanwhile, electrochemical properties of poly(NAG) polymer based electrolyte were thoroughly investigated by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The poly(NAG) polymer electrolyte presents an a highest ionic conductivity of 0.51 mS·cm-1 at room-temperature. Solar cell based on the poly(NAG) electrolyte reached power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 1.46%. This work demonstrates that this NAG is a novel, cheap, environmental friendly and efficient precursor for preparing polymer electrolyte for DSSCs application. Its abundance can significant low down cell fabrication cost, and this work opens a new way for looking for promising resource for the application of DSSCs.