Highly Stable Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells Based on Novel 1,2,3-Triazolium Ionic Liquids

We describe the design and synthesis of novel low viscosity bicyclic 1,2,3-triazolium ionic liquids. These new salts are applied as nonvolatile electrolytes in dye-sensitized solar cells, affording efficiencies up to 7.07% at low light intensities, and 6.00% when illuminated at 100 mW cm–2. The devices are highly stable, retaining ca. 90% of their initial performance even after 1000 h of sun testing at 60 °C. The results obtained with these new ionic liquids compare very favorably to benchmark ionic liquid-based devices and illustrate the potential of the triazolium family of salts to compete with their imidazolium counterparts.