Influence of organic nitrogenous compounds phenothiazine and diphenyl amine in poly(vinylidene fluoride) blended with poly(ethylene oxide) polymer electrolyte in dye-sensitized solar cells

Effect of a locust bean gum based gel electrolyte with nanocomposite additives on the performance of a dye-sensitized solar cell

In this study, we proposed Mn3O4 and Mn3O4·CuS nanocomposites as novel inorganic additives in locust bean gum (LBG) gel electrolytes for application in an aqueous dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC).

Contribution of stilbene-imine additives on the structural, ionic conductivity performance and theoretical evaluation on CMC-based biopolymer electrolytes

New solid biopolymer electrolytes (SBEs) were prepared by integrating stilbene-imine derivatives bearing vinylene (CHCH) and azomethine (CHN) as additives in carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) based electrolyte. The investigation on their spectroscopic and theoretical assessments were conducted to alter the energy level in improving the structural and ionic conductivity performance. The simulated results from frontier molecular orbitals (FMO) and Mulliken-charge analysis revealed that -CF₃ and -NO₂ substituents significantly reduce the HOMO-LUMO gap up to 0.68 eV. The highest ionic conductivity of SBEs achieved at ambient temperature was ∼8 × 10^-3 Scm^-1 upon the addition of additive, obeying an Arrhenius model with reciprocal of temperature (303 K-373 K). The coordination interaction of CO bond and CHN band facilitated the dissociation of more cation (H⁺) of NH₄Cl which permits alternative route for H⁺ to hop into coordinating site in CMC. The outcomes are ideal in the development of electrochemical devices.

Poly(ethylene glycol)–poly(propylene glycol)–poly(ethylene glycol) and polyvinylidene fluoride blend doped with oxydianiline-based thiourea derivatives as a novel and modest gel electrolyte system for dye-sensitized solar cell applications

Unique symmetrical thiourea derivatives with an oxydianiline core were synthesized using cost-effective and simple methods. A new gel electrolyte system was prepared using these thiourea additives along with a highly conductive PEG–PPG–PEG block copolymer, PVDF, and an iodide/triiodide redox couple. The PEG units present in the electrolyte are well-known for their intense segmental motion of ions, which can degrade the recombination rate and favour the charge transfer. The thiourea additives interacted well with the redox couple to limit iodine sublimation and their adsorption induced a negative potential shift for TiO₂. The highest efficiency attained by utilizing such gel polymer electrolytes was 5.75%, especially with 1,1′-(oxybis(4,1-phenylene))bis(3-(6-methylpyridin-2-yl) thiourea) (OPPT), under an irradiation of 100 mW cm⁻². The electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, UV-vis absorption spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, and FTIR spectroscopy data of such gel polymer electrolytes favoured the PCE order of the additives used in DSSCs. The improvement in the DSSC performance with symmetrical thioureas having electron-rich atoms was practically attributed to the reduction of back electron transfer, dye regeneration, and hole transport.

A unique gel polymer electrolyte was prepared using PVDF and PEG–PPG–PEG block copolymer with I⁻/I₃⁻ for DSSC application. This is a cost-effective method used for the synthesis of thiourea additives. The GPE with OPPT thiourea additive achieved a good efficiency of 5.7%.

Enhanced performance of a nanocrystalline dye-sensitized solar cell based on polyurethane dendrimers

The photovoltaic parameters of dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) fabricated with and without fourth generation polyurethane dendrimers have been discussed.