Efficiency enhancement of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) using a gel polymer electrolyte added with tert-butyl pyridine.

Phthaloyl-chitosan (PhCh) blended with polyethene oxide (PEO) forms the host in a gel polymer electrolyte with a composition of 5.04 wt.% PhCh-1.26wt.% PEO-31.51wt.% DMF-37.81 wt.% EC-24.38wt.% TPAI(+ I ₂ ). To this composition X wt. % of tert-butyl pyridine (TBP) [X = 0, 2, 4, 6, 8] has been added. The conductivity of the electrolytes has been calculated from impedance data obtained using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS)—the GPEs with different wt. % TBP exhibits a conductivity of 9 mS cm ^− 1 , which is slightly lower than the GPE without TBP being 11 mS cm ^− 1 at room temperature. Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) have been assembled with a ruthenium-based dye as sensitizer. The photocurrent density-voltage ( J-V ) characteristics of the DSSCs have been measured under white-light illumination of 1000 W m-2, with an active area of 0.20 cm ² . The electrolytes containing 8 wt.% TBP exhibit the highest efficiency of 8.74% with J _sc = 17.23 mA cm ^− 2 , V _oc = 0.72 V and FF 0.70. The incident photon to current conversion efficiency (IPCE) for DSSC was characterised using the Newport Model 70528 Oriel Monochromator Illuminator—the DSSC with eight wt. % TBP shows the highest quantum efficiency of 72.9% at 530 nm.