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Experimental and theoretical investigation of dye sensitized solar cells integrated with crosslinked poly(vinylpyrrolidone) polymer electrolyte using initiated chemical vapor deposition
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Experimental and theoretical investigation of dye sensitized solar cells integrated with crosslinked poly(vinylpyrrolidone) polymer electrolyte using initiated chemical vapor deposition

Yuriy Y. Smolin, Sruthi Janakiraman, Masoud Soroush and Kenneth K. S. Lau
Thin solid films, v 635
01 Aug 2017
url
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsf.2016.12.034View
Accepted (AM)Open Access (Publisher-Specific) Open

Abstract

Materials Science Materials Science, Coatings & Films Materials Science, Multidisciplinary Physical Sciences Physics Physics, Applied Physics, Condensed Matter Science & Technology Technology
Initiated chemical vapor deposition is used to integrate crosslinked poly(vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP) as a polymer electrolyte into the mesoporous TiO2 photoanode of dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). By adjusting the fractional saturation ratio of ethylene glycol diacrylate (EGDA) crosslinker to vinylpyrrolidone (VP) monomer, the amount of crosslinker within the crosslinked polymer is controlled directly, and a minimum ratio of 0.2:1 (EGDA to VP) is found to form a robust insoluble crosslinked film. Fineman-Ross copolymer analysis indicates that both VP and EGDA prefer to polymerize with VP rather than with EGDA, likely due to reduced steric hindrance. DSSCs incorporating crosslinked PVP polymer electrolyte are found to have 51% higher power conversion efficiency (37% higher in open circuit voltage and 25% higher in fill factor) compared to DSSCs with liquid electrolytes. First-principles macroscopic mathematical modeling reveals that the polymer electrolyte shifts the conduction band of TiO2 (vs. normal hydrogen electrode) negatively, increases shunt resistance, and affects interfacial processes like back-electron surface recombination in the cell. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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Web of Science research areas
Materials Science, Coatings & Films
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Physics, Applied
Physics, Condensed Matter
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