Influence of solvent on the performance of liquid and silica nanoparticle loaded quasi solid electrolytes based dye sensitized solar cells

ABSTRACT

In quasi-solid electrolytes loaded with nanoparticles such as silica and titania, the solvent of the electrolyte has a key role in the separation of ionic species and their adsorption on the surface of nanoparticle. The present article demonstrates the effect of different solvents on the ionic adsorption and its impact on the photoelectrochemical characteristics of dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Ionic adsorption behaviour has been studied by zeta potential measurements and analysis of carbon to nitrogen (C/N) ratio. It has been found out that effective cationic adsorption occurs in 3-methoxypropionitrile (MPN) as solvent in electrolyte, whereas poor adsorption occurs in N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP)-based electrolyte due to the higher donor number of the latter which results in effective interaction of solvent and nanopowder. Performance of DSSC fabricated with MPN-based solvent in electrolyte was superior to others in both liquid and quasi-solid electrolytes.

KEYWORDS:

• Donor number
• 3-methoxypropionitrile
• N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone
• adsorption
• zeta potential
• C/N ratio

Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge Corning Inc. USA and DST India (Project codes-10DST030 and 11DST073) for financial support and Sophisticated Analytical Instruments Facility (SAIF), IIT Bombay for CHN analyzer facility. We also thank Evonik Industries, India for providing silica nanopowders for the study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.