Poly(glycidyl methacrylate-acrylonitrile)-based polymeric electrolytes for dye-sensitized solar cell applications

Poly(glycidyl methacrylate-acrylonitrile) P(GMA-AN) copolymer was synthesized and used as a polymer electrolyte in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). P(GMA-AN)-based polymer electrolyte is obtained by adding 1-methyl-3-propylimidazolium iodide (PMII) as a room temperature ionic liquid (RTIL), tetrabutylammonium iodide (TBAI), iodide (I2) as the source of redox couple (I3(-)/I(-)) in order to improve the power conversion efficiency (PCE) by addition of optimized plasticizer contents such as ethylene carbonate (EC) and propylene carbonate (PC) in an acetonitrile solvent. These polymer electrolyte results revealed that more stable photovoltaic performance such as PCE of 4.97% with enhanced short-circuit current density (J(SC), 10.42 mA/cm2) and open circuit voltage (V(OC), 0.75 V) and fill factor (FF) of 0.63 under standard light intensity of 100 mW/cm2, irradiation of AM 1.5 sunlight. It is expected that these polymer electrolyte is an attractive alternative to liquid electrolytes for the fabrication of the long term stable DSSCs.