Effect of Conducting Ability of Electrolytes on the Photovoltaic Performance of Quasi-Solid State Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Abstract DSSCs based on quasi-solid type of electrolytes were prepared to investigate the influence of ionic mobility and recombination kinetics in electrolytes on DSSC performances. The improved ionic mobility of electrolyte in PMMA system resulted in the enhancement of Jsc value in DSSC which was well confirmed with the incident photon-to-current spectra and the impedance analysis. Furthermore, the retarded recombination rate from TiO2 electrode to electrolyte in PMMA system enhanced the electron life time of DSSC in the photoanode. DSSCs based on quasi-solid type of electrolytes composed of PMMA showed a power conversion efficiency of 3.36% underAM 1.5 illumination (100 mWcm−2) in an photo active area of 0.24 cm2, short circuit current density of 7.69 mAcm−2, open circuit photo voltage of 0.69 Vandafill-factor of 64%. Keywords: Dye-sensitized solar cellsionic mobility of electrolytephotovoltaic performancesPMMA and PEO electrolytequasi-solid type of DSSC Acknowledgment This research was financially supported by the Ministry of Education, Science Technology (MEST) and Korea Industrial Technology Foundation (KOTEF) through the Human Resource Training Project for Regional Innovation. Notes a R1 is FTO Interface resistance. b R2 is due to the resistance at the interface between the counter electrode and the electrolyte. c R3 is possibly originated from the backward charge transfer from TiO2 to the electrolyte and the electron conduction in porous TiO2 film. d τis life time of an electron in DSSC. J. H. Kim and K.-S. Ahn contributed equally to this work as the corresponding authors.