TY - GEN
T1 - In situ synthesis and integration of polymer electrolytes in nanostructured electrodes for photovoltaic applications
AU - Nejati, Siamak
AU - Lau, Kenneth K.S.
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors would like to thank the National Science Foundation for support through the NSF CAREER Award (CBET-0846245) and NSF SGER grant (CBET-0820608) as well as the American Chemical Society through the ACS PRF grant (48160-G5). We also acknowledge the use of Drexel University’s Centralized Research Facilities.
PY - 2011
Y1 - 2011
N2 - The conventional dye sensitized solar cell (DSSC) is limited by the use of a liquid electrolyte that is prone to leakage and evaporation. Efforts to replace the liquid with a solid equivalent have been met with difficulties in penetrating the mesoporous TiCh nanostructured photoanode with liquid processing, particularly for photoanode layer thickness greater than 2 μm. Here, initiated chemical vapor deposition (iCVD) is successfully applied to directly synthesize and fill the pores of the mesoporous TiO2 network of up to 12 μm thickness with poly(2-hydroxyethyl memacrylate) (PHEMA) polymer electrolyte. Comparing with equivalent liquid electrolyte cells, DSSCs integrated with PHEMA polymer electrolyte showed consistently higher open circuit voltage, which is attributed to a decrease in electron recombination with the redox couple at the electrode-electrolyte interface.
AB - The conventional dye sensitized solar cell (DSSC) is limited by the use of a liquid electrolyte that is prone to leakage and evaporation. Efforts to replace the liquid with a solid equivalent have been met with difficulties in penetrating the mesoporous TiCh nanostructured photoanode with liquid processing, particularly for photoanode layer thickness greater than 2 μm. Here, initiated chemical vapor deposition (iCVD) is successfully applied to directly synthesize and fill the pores of the mesoporous TiO2 network of up to 12 μm thickness with poly(2-hydroxyethyl memacrylate) (PHEMA) polymer electrolyte. Comparing with equivalent liquid electrolyte cells, DSSCs integrated with PHEMA polymer electrolyte showed consistently higher open circuit voltage, which is attributed to a decrease in electron recombination with the redox couple at the electrode-electrolyte interface.
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U2 - 10.1557/opl.2011.115
DO - 10.1557/opl.2011.115
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:80053226911
SN - 9781605112893
T3 - Materials Research Society Symposium Proceedings
SP - 287
EP - 292
BT - Polymer-Based Materials and Composites - Synthesis, Assembly, Properties and Applications
T2 - 2010 MRS Fall Meeting
Y2 - 29 November 2010 through 3 December 2010
ER -