Novel quasi-solid electrolyte for dye-sensitized solar cells

A novel alkyloxy-imidazole polymer was prepared by in situ co-polymerization of alkyloxy-imidazole and diiodide to develop an ionic polymer gel electrolyte for quasi-solid dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs). The DSCs with the polymer gel electrolyte of 1-methyl-3-propylimidazolium iodide (MPII) showed good photovoltaic performance including the short-circuit photocurrent density (Jsc) of 3.6 mA cm−2, the open-circuit voltage (Voc) of 714.8 mV, the fill factor (FF) of 0.60 and the light-to-electricity conversion efficiency (η) of 1.56% under AM 1.5 (100 mW cm−2). As a comparison, the DSCs with the polymer gel electrolyte of 1,2-dimethyl-3-propylimidazolium iodide (DMPII) yielded a light-to-electricity conversion efficiency of 1.33%. The results indicated that the as-prepared polymers were suitable for the solidification of liquid electrolytes in DSCs.