Application of Functionalized Multi-walled Carbon Nanotubes Filled Gel Electrolyte in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

doi:10.11944/j.issn.1000-0518.2019.07.180410

Chinese Journal of Applied Chemistry ›› 2019, Vol. 36 ›› Issue (7): 815-822.DOI: 10.11944/j.issn.1000-0518.2019.07.180410

• Full Papers • Previous Articles Next Articles

Application of Functionalized Multi-walled Carbon Nanotubes Filled Gel Electrolyte in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

SHENG Lei,LI Tingyu,GUO Lifang,LI Gang(),ZHANG Wendong

MicroNano System Research Center & Key Laboratory of Advanced Transducers and Intelligent Control System(Ministry of Education),College of Information and Computer,Taiyuan University of Technology,Taiyuan 030024,China

Received:2018-12-25 Accepted:2019-04-03 Published:2019-07-01 Online:2019-07-02
Contact: LI Gang
Supported by:
Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.61674113, No.51622507, No.61471255), the Natural Science Foundation of Shanxi Province, China(No.2016011040), and the Scientific and Technological Innovation Programs of Higher Education Institutions in Shanxi Province, China(No.2016138)

Abstract

Abstract:

Gel electrolyte based on pure polyvinylidene fluoride-six fluoropropene copolymer(PVDF-HFP) often suffers from low ionic conductivity, which hinders its application in dye-sensitized solar cells(DSSCs). However, the ionic conductivity of gel electrolyte and the conversion efficiency of the DSSCs can be enhanced by nanofillers. In this paper, we employed functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotube(f-MWCNT) as the nanofiller in the gel electrolyte based on PVDF-HFP. We studied its effect on ionic conductivity and ionic diffusion of electrolytes via changing the mass fraction of f-MWCNT, and investigated its improvement on the conversion efficiency and long-term stability of DSSCs. It was found that the PVDF-HFP gel electrolyte with 0.5% f-MWCNT significantly increased the ionic conductivity and ionic diffusion coefficient of the electrolyte. Moreover, the optimal conversion efficiency of the DSSCs with gel electrolyte reaches to 5.28%, which is 31.7% higher than that of the DSSCs with unfilled gel electrolyte(4.01%). After 42 days, the DSSCs still maintained 86.5% of the original conversion efficiency. The experiment confirms the great potential of f-MWCNT as the nanofiller, providing a reference for the study to improve the performance of the gel electrolyte DSSCs by nanofillers.

Key words: functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotube, gel electrolyte, nanofiller, dye-sensitized solar cells

SHENG Lei,LI Tingyu,GUO Lifang,LI Gang,ZHANG Wendong. Application of Functionalized Multi-walled Carbon Nanotubes Filled Gel Electrolyte in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells[J]. Chinese Journal of Applied Chemistry, 2019, 36(7): 815-822.

References

[1]	O'Regan B,Grätzel M. A Low-cost, High-efficiency Solar Cell Based on Dye-Sensitized Colloidal TiO2 Films[J]. Nat Mater,1991,353(6346):737-740.
[2]	Li G,Sheng L,Li T,et al. Engineering Flexible Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells for Portable Electronics[J]. Sol Energy,2019,177:80-98.
[3]	YANG Mei,SHI Zhenling,XU Nan,et al. Research Progress of Hollow Micro/Nano Structured Photoanode Materials for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells[J]. Chinese J Appl Chem,2018,35(8):902-915(in Chinese). 杨梅,时振领,徐楠,等. 染料敏化太阳能电池空心微/纳米结构光阳极材料的研究进展[J]. 应用化学,2018,35(8):902-915.
[4]	LIANG Guijie,ZHONG Zhicheng,XU Jie,et al. Quasi-Solid State Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells Based on the Novel Crosslinked Polymer Electrolyte[J]. Acta Phys Chim Sin,2012,28(12):2852-2860(in Chinese). 梁桂杰,钟志成,许杰,等. 基于新型交联聚合物电解质的准固态染料敏化太阳能电池[J]. 物理化学学报,2012,28(12):28-52.
[5]	Su'ait M S,Rahman M Y A,Ahmad A. Review on Polymer Electrolyte in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells(DSSCs)[J]. Sol Energy,2015,115:452-470.
[6]	Chen H W,Chiang Y D,Kung C W,et al. Highly Efficient Plastic-Based Quasi-Solid-State Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells with Light-Harvesting Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles Gel-Electrolyte[J]. J Power Sources,2014,245(1):411-417.
[7]	Bella F,Pugliese D,Zolin L,et al. Paper-Based Quasi-solid Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells[J]. Electrochim Acta,2017,237:87-93.
[8]	Liu X Q,Liang Y,Yue G T,et al. A Dual Function of High Efficiency Quasi-solid-state Flexible Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell Based on Conductive Polymer Integrated into Poly(Acrylic Acid-co-Carbon Nanotubes) Gel Electrolyte[J]. Sol Energy,2017,148:63-69.
[9]	Lee K M,Suryanarayanan V,Ho K C.A Photo-Physical and Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy Study on the Quasi-Solid State Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells Based on Poly(Vinylidene Fluoride-co-Hexafluoropropylene)[J]. J Power Sources,2008,185(2):1605-1612.
[10]	Chou H T,Hsu H C,Lien C H,et al. The Effect of Various Concentrations of PVDF-HFP Polymer Gel Electrolyte for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell[J]. Microelectron Reliability,2015,55(11):2174-2177.
[11]	Senthil R A,Theerthagiri J,Madhavan J,et al. Influence of Organic Additive to PVDF-HFP Mixed Iodide Electrolytes on the Photovoltaic Performance of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells[J]. J Phys Chem Solids,2017,101:18-24.
[12]	Park J H,Kim B W,Moon J H.Dual Functions of Clay Nanoparticles with High Aspect Ratio in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells[J]. Electrochem Solid State Lett,2008,11(10):B171-B173.
[13]	Shaheer Akhtar M,Li Z Y,Park D M,et al. A New Carbon Nanotubes(CNTs)-Poly Acrylonitrile(PAN) Composite Electrolyte for Solid State Dye Sensitized Solar Cells[J]. Electrochim Acta,2011,56(27):9973-9979.
[14]	Sacco A,Lamberti A,Gerosa M,et al. Toward Quasi-Solid State Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells: Effect of γ-Al2O3 Nanoparticle Dispersion into Liquid Electrolyte[J]. Sol Energy,2015,111:125-134.
[15]	Senevirathne A M C,Seneviratne V A,Ileperuma O A. Use of Fumed Silica Nanoparticles to Attain Polymer Free Novel Quasi-solid State Electrolyte for High-Efficiency Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells[J]. Sol Energy,2018,159:531-537.
[16]	Prabakaran K,Palai A K,Mohanty S,et al. Aligned Carbon Nanotube/Polymer Hybrid Electrolytes for High Performance Dye Sensitized Solar Cell Applications[J]. RSC Adv,2015,5(82):66563-66574.
[17]	Venkatesan S,Lee Y L.Nanofillers in the Electrolytes of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells—A Short Review[J]. Coordin Chem Rev,2017,353:58-112.
[18]	Khannam M,Nath B C,Mohan K J,et al. Development of Quasi-Solid-State Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells Based on a Poly(vinyl alcohol)/Poly (ethylene glycol)/Functionalized Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes Gel Electrolyte[J]. Chemistryselect,2017,2(2):673-679.
[19]	Arul Xavier Stango S,Vijayalakshmi U. Synthesis and Characterization of Hydroxyapatite/Carboxylic Acid Functionalized MWCNTS Composites and Its Triple Layer Coatings for Biomedical Applications[J]. Ceram Int,2019,45:69-81.
[20]	Lee J K,Jeong B H,Jang S I,et al. Preparations of TiO2 Pastes and Its Application to Light-Scattering Layer for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells[J]. J Ind Eng Chem,2009,15(5):724-729.
[21]	Muthuraaman B,Will G,Wang H,et al. Increased Charge Transfer of Poly(Ethylene Oxide) Based Electrolyte by Addition of Small Molecule and Its Application in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells[J]. Electrochim Acta,2013,87:526-531.
[22]	Ramesh S,Ramesh K,Arof A K.Fumed Silica-Doped Poly(Vinyl Chloride)-Poly(Ethylene Oxide)(PVC/PEO)-Based Polymer Electrolyte for Lithium Ion Battery[J]. Int J Electrochem Soc,2013,8(6):8348-8355.
[23]	Nath B C,Gogoi B,Boruah M,et al. High Performance Polyvinyl Alcohol/Multi Walled Carbon Nanotube/Polyaniline Hydrogel(PVA/MWCNT/PAni) Based Dye Sensitized Solar Cells[J]. Electrochim Acta,2014,146:106-111.
[24]	Prabakaran K,Jandas P J,Mohanty S,et al. Synthesis, Characterization of Reduced Graphene Oxide Nanosheets and Its Reinforcement Effect on Polymer Electrolyte for Dye Sensitized Solar Cell Applications[J]. Sol Energy,2018,170:442-453.
[25]	Benedetti J E,Correa A A,Carmello M,et al. Cross-Linked Gel Polymer Electrolyte Containing Multi-wall Carbon Nanotubes for Application in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells[J]. J Power Sources,2012,208:263-270.
[26]	Kang T S,Chun K H,Hong J S,et al. Enhanced Stability of Photocurrent-Voltage Curves in Ru(Ⅱ)-Dye-Sensitized Nanocrystalline TiO2 Electrodes with Carboxylic Acids[J]. J Electrochem Soc,2000,147(8):3049-3053.
[27]	Vittoni C,Sacchetto V,Costenaro D,et al. Gelation of Solvent-Free Electrolyte Using Siliceous Materials with Different Size and Porosity for Applications in Dye Sensitized Solar Cells[J]. Sol Energy,2016,124:101-113.
[28]	Katoh R,Furube A.Electron Injection Efficiency in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells[J]. J Photochem Photobiol C,2014,20:1-16.

Application of Functionalized Multi-walled Carbon Nanotubes Filled Gel Electrolyte in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

RichHTML

PDF

Knowledge

Abstract

Cite this article

share this article

References

Related Articles 3

Recommended Articles

Metrics

Comments

[1]	YANG Mei,SHI Zhenling,XU Nan,MAO Dan,WANG Dan. Research Progress of Hollow Micro/Nano-Structured Photoanode Materials for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells [J]. Chinese Journal of Applied Chemistry, 2018, 35(8): 902-915.
[2]	WANG Chaolei, WANG Zeqing, MA Tingli*. Synthesis of Porphyrin Dyes with Electron Donate-withdraw Structure and Their Applications in Dye-sensitized Solar Cells [J]. Chinese Journal of Applied Chemistry, 2013, 30(07): 757-763.
[3]	Yang Xinhe, Li Changjiang, Shen Gonglie. Polymeric Gel Electrolyte and Its Application to Electrochromic Smart Window [J]. Chinese Journal of Applied Chemistry, 1997, 0(5): 59-62.