title: Carbon nanotube (CNT)-polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) composite electrolyte for solid-state dye sensitized solar cells.
abstract: A novel carbon nanotube (CNT)-polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) composite electrolyte was successfully synthesized by the thermal polymerization of methyl methacrylate (MMA) with CNTs for solid-state dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The prepared CNTs-PMMA composite electrolytes were characterized by Fourior transformed-infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and ionic conductivity. A strong bonding was observed between CNT and PMMA through ester bonding in the CNT-PMMA composite, resulting in the lowering of crystallinity and increasing the ionic conductivity of composite electrolyte. DSSCs fabricated with CNTs-PMMA composite electrolytes achieved relatively high conversion efficiency of 2.9% with an open circuit voltage (V(oc)) of 0.567 volt, short circuit current (I(sc)) of 8.9 mA/cm2 and fill factor of 61.8%, which is attributed to enhanced amorphicity and ionic conductivity due to the formation of strong bonding between CNT and PMMA molecules.
authors.affiliation: School of Semiconductor and Chemical Engineering and Solar Energy Research Center, Chonbuk National University, Jeonju 561-756, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Hyun-Cheol
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: M Shaheer
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Akhtar
authors.forename: Jung Geun
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Ki-Ju
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: S K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: O-Bong
authors.initials: OB
authors.lastname: Yang