Graphene, carbon nanotube and ionic liquid mixtures: Towards new quasi-solid state electrolytes for dye sensitised solar cells
Citation:
Ahmad, I., Khan, U., Gun'ko, Y.K., Graphene, carbon nanotube and ionic liquid mixtures: Towards new quasi-solid state electrolytes for dye sensitised solar cells, Journal of Materials Chemistry, 21, 42, 2011, 16990-16996Download Item:
Abstract:
In this work carbon based nanomaterials in ionic liquids have been studied as potential electrolytes for dye sensitised solar cells (DSSCs). Graphene, single wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) and a mixture of graphene and SWCNTs were incorporated into 1-methyl-3-propylimidazolium iodide (PMII) ionic liquid. The resulting quasi-solid state electrolytes were sandwiched between TiO 2 working electrodes and platinum counter electrodes and subsequent DSSCs were fabricated. Graphene based quasi-solid state electrolytes displayed an increase of light conversion efficiencies in the completed DSSC from 0.16% (for pure PMII) to 2.10%. For SWCNTs, the observed light conversion efficiency increased from 0.16% to 1.43% and for the mixture of graphene and SWCNTs the light conversion efficiency improved from 0.16% to 2.50%. This significant increase occurred because the carbon materials serve simultaneously both as charge transporter in the ionic liquids and as catalyst for the electrochemical reduction of I 3 -. It is also expected that there is an ionic liquid mediated self-organisation of graphene and SWNT nanomaterials into structured networks, which provide an efficient electron transfer. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) studies showed that these electrolytes are stable up to 300 ?C.
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Science Foundation Ireland (SFI)
Author's Homepage:
http://people.tcd.ie/igounkohttp://people.tcd.ie/ukhan
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PUBLISHED
Author: GOUNKO, IOURI; KHAN, UMAR
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Journal ArticleCollections
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Journal of Materials Chemistry21
42
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Full text availableDOI:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/c1jm11537eMetadata
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