Ionic Conductor with High Conductivity as Single-Component
Electrolyte for Efficient Solid-State Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells
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Abstract
Imidazolium
iodide is an often used component in iodine-based dye-sensitized
solar cells (DSSCs), but it cannot operate an efficient DSSC in the
absence of iodine due to its low conductivity. For this study, lamellar
solid iodide salts of imidazolium or piperidinium with an N-substituted
propargyl group have been prepared and applied in solid-state DSSCs.
Owing to the high conductivity arising from the lamellar structure,
these solid-state ionic conductors can be used as single-component
solid electrolytes to operate solid-state DSSCs efficiently without
any additives in the electrolyte and post-treatments on the dye-loaded
TiO<sub>2</sub> films. With a propargyl group attached to the imidazolium
ring, the conductivity is enhanced by about 4 × 10<sup>4</sup>-fold as compared to the alkyl-substituted imidazolium iodide. Solid-state
DSSC with the 1-propargyl-3-methylimidazolium iodide as the single-component
solid-state electrolyte has achieved a light-to-electricity power
conversion efficiency of 6.3% under illumination of simulated AM1.5G
solar light (100 mW cm<sup>–2</sup>), which also exhibits good
long-term stability under continuous 1 sun soaking for 1500 h. This
finding paves the way for development of high-conductivity single-component
solid electrolytes for use in efficient solid-state DSSCs