Preparation of poly (ε-caprolactone) as a gel electrolyte for dye-sensitized solar cells

Abstract

Substantially to increase the efficiency of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), it has been fabricated with the polymer gel electrolytes (PGEs) by replacing the liquid electrolytes (LEs). Poly (ε-caprolactone) (PCL) has been synthesized as a crystalline solid biopolymer of about 74% yield using different 6-membered ring phenolate Al complexes. As prepared PCL was blended with LE used in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) to prepare high polydispersity index (PDI) PGE. The prepared PGE shows cross-linking between carboxyl and hydroxyl groups and interacts with iodide ions to form a chelate complex structure. The PGE was well-characterized using various analytical tools to demonstrate its structural and surface morphology. The fabricated DSSCs using PGE showed high ionic conductivity (7.76 × 10−4 S cm−1), good tri-iodide diffusion (2.052 × 10−6 Cm2 S−1), and a highly stable incident photon-to-current conversion efficiency (PCE; 5.92%) under solar light illumination (85 mW cm−2). Besides found PGE has improved long-term stability up to 15 days, and these results proved that the prepared PGE is superior compared to other reported PGEs.