title: A quasi-liquid polymer-based cobalt redox mediator electrolyte for dye-sensitized solar cells.
abstract: Recently, cobalt redox electrolyte mediators have emerged as a promising alternative to the commonly used iodide/triiodide redox shuttle in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs). Here, we report the successful use of a new quasi-liquid, polymer-based electrolyte containing the Co(3+)/Co(2+) redox mediator in 3-methoxy propionitrile solvent in order to overcome the limitations of high cell resistance, low diffusion coefficient and rapid recombination losses. The performance of the solar cells containing the polymer based electrolytes increased by a factor of 1.2 with respect to an analogous electrolyte without the polymer. The performances of the fabricated DSCs have been investigated in detail by photovoltaic, transient electron measurements, EIS, Raman and UV-vis spectroscopy. This approach offers an effective way to make high-performance and long-lasting DSCs.
authors.affiliation: Applied Physical Chemistry, Centre for Molecular Devices, Department of Chemistry, School of Chemical Science and Engineering, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, SE-100 44, Stockholm, Sweden. Larsa@kth.se.
authors.forename: Muthuraaman
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bhagavathi Achari
authors.forename: Viswanathan
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Elumalai
authors.forename: Nick
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Vlachopoulos
authors.forename: Majid
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Safdari
authors.forename: Jiajia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: James M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Gardner
authors.forename: Lars
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kloo