Polymer electrolytes based on novel poly(Ethyl methacrylate-co-deproteinized natural rubber) for dye sensitized solar cell application

Abstract

Novel copolymer of ethyl methacrylate - deproteinized natural rubber was prepared by solvent-free UV-curing technique and used as a host in solid polymer electrolytes. For the preparation of polymer electrolytes, magnesium iodide was used as the doping salt. The interaction occurred between polymer and magnesium iodide ions was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared analysis. Thermogravimetric analysis showed that deg-radation temperature decreased upon addition of magnesium iodide salt. The ionic transport number measurement gave a value of 0.93 confirming that the sample was an ionic conductor. The cationic transport number was found to be 0.04 indicating iodide anions were the main conducting species. The dye sensitized solar cell employing this new copolymer based electrolytes showed reasonably good photoelectrochemical conversion efficiency.