Highly efficient plastic-based quasi-solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells with light-harvesting mesoporous silica nanoparticles gel-electrolyte.

Abstract: A quasi-solid-state gel-electrolyte containing mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) capable of light-scattering is applied to plastic-based dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The MSNs based gel-electrolyte exhibits higher reflectance in the visible wavelength and contains nanometer-sized pores to facilitate the I−/I3 − ion diffusion and increase the ionic conductivity of the gel-electrolyte. Linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) measurements and electrochemical impedance spectra (EIS) are used to substantiate the explanations. Optimization on both the wt% of MSNs and the I2 concentration (i.e., 10 wt% of MSNs and 0.02 M of I2) of the gel-electrolyte give the best cell performance with a light-to-electricity conversion efficiency (η) of 5.45% under illumination of 100 mW cm−2. A mechanism for enhanced efficiency is proposed regarding the role of MSNs. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]