Study of quasi-solid electrolyte in dye-sensitized solar cells using surfactant as pore-forming materials in TiO2 photoelectrodes

A novel polymer gel electrolyte was used to improve the performance and long-term stability in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The polymer gel electrolyte (PGE) was prepared by mixing 5 wt% poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene) (PVDF-HFP) and 2 % TiO 2 nanoparticles. The conductivity of PGE with P25 reached 9.98 × 10 −3  S/cm, which increased by 34.9 % compared with 7.40 × 10 −3  S/cm of PGE without P25, and the diffusion coefficient was also increased by 19.0 %. Different photoelectrodes were obtained by using three kinds of surfactants (cetylamine, octadecylamine, and P123) as pore-forming materials, and their morphologies were contrasted through scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results showed that gel electrolyte can increase the short-circuit current density ( J sc ) from 11.01 to 12.99 mA/cm 2 in DSSCs. Moreover, unlike the liquid electrolyte, the gel electrolyte is more conducive to the TiO 2 photoelectrodes with larger pores. In conclusion, the efficiency of DSSC with gel electrolyte and P123 as pore-forming material was 6.73 %, which was 12 % higher than the liquid electrolyte in the same test condition. In addition, the sealed gel electrolyte DSSCs showed better stability than did liquid electrolyte DSSCs during nearly 600 h.