Efficient quasisolid dye- and quantum-dot-sensitized solar cells using thiolate/disulfide redox couple and CoS counter electrode.
For the first time, a quasisolid thiolate/disulfide-based electrolyte was prepared using succinonitrile as a matrix. An optimized configuration of the quasisolid electrolyte contains 5-mercapto-1-methyltetrazole N-tetramethylammonium/disulfide/LiClO4/N-methylbenzimidazole in the molar ratio of 0.8:0.8:0.1:0.1. Dye-sensitized solar cells fabricated using this quasisolid electrolyte, together with N719 dye-sensitized photoelectrode and CoS counter electrode, attained power conversion efficiencies of 4.25% at 1 sun and 6.19% at 0.1 sun illumination intensities. The optimized quasisolid electrolyte, when introduced to quasisolid CdS quantum-dot-sensitized solar cells, exhibited a power conversion efficiency of 0.94%, despite the fact that CdS absorbs only a small fraction of the visible light, unlike dyes. The encouraging results show the potential for the utilization of the quasisolid thiolate/disulfide-based electrolyte in sensitized solar cells.
School of Chemical and Bioprocess Engineering, University College Dublin , Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland.
Ke
K
Meng
K Ravindranathan
KR
Thampi
dye-sensitized solar cell; quantum-dot-sensitized solar cell; quasisolid solar cell; thiolate/disulfide redox couple