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Exfoliated Clay Nanoplatelets as Gelator and Oxidizing Agent for Ionic Liquid Electrolyte to Enhance Photovoltaic Performance of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 July 2014

You-Chun Cheng
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
Chia-Hsin Lee
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
Chun Kai Tsai
Affiliation:
Institute of Polymer Science and Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
King-Fu Lin
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan Institute of Polymer Science and Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
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Abstract

Exfoliated montmorillonite (exMMT) nanoplatelets are a two-dimensional electrolyte carrying ∼1.78 dissociable monovalent cations per nanometer square. They were fabricated through soap-free emulsion polymerization of poly(methyl methacrylate) in the presence of MMT. Because the dissociated exMMTs are anionic, they were not only capable of gelatinizing 1-methyl-3-propylimidazolium iodide (MPII) ionic liquid-based electrolyte, but also increased the power conversion efficiency of resulting dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) from 6 to 7.77%. Recently, we investigated the ionic conductive mechanism of exMMT-gelled MPII ionic liquid-based electrolyte and found that the exMMTs acted like an oxidizing agent for iodide ions (I-). As exMMTs were mixed with MPII, I- ions readily oxidized to I3- and even to I5- ions by losing the electrons. Consequently, the ionic conductivity was significantly increased due to the fact that I-, I3-, and I5- tended to form redox couples that transported faster by way of the Grothus/exchange reaction process.

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Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2014 

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References

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