High conducting nanocomposite electrospun PVDF-HFP/TiO2 quasi-solid electrolyte for dye-sensitized solar cell

A high conducting electrospun nanocomposite polymer PVDF-HFP with a crystalline TiO2 fillers were synthesized and treated with various redox couple electrolytes for dye-sensitized solar cells is reported. The as-spun nanocomposite membranes were characterized using DSC, XRD and FTIR to study the thermal behaviour, crystallinity and interaction between polymer and fillers. The electrolyte uptake behaviour and impedance response of the electrolyte-activated quasi-solid electrolyte membranes were analyzed. A high conductivity of 1.41x10-2 cm-1 were achieved for 6 wt% of crystalline TiO2 fillers with LiI based redox couple and 4-tert-butylpyridine (TBP) as additive. In order to interpret the conducting mechanism and dielectric response involved in the ion dynamics and relaxation of charge carriers of the prepared quasi-solid electrolytes were analysed by the random barrier model along with the effect of electrode polarization and Havarliak-Negami formalism. The photovoltaic performance of all the prepared electrolytes were investigated for all the fabricated DSSC and obtained an efficiency of 5.93% for electrospun nanocomposite (PVDF-HFP/6wt% of TiO2) polymer with LiI based redox couple and TBP additive, as quasi-solid electrolyte.