Characteristics of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell Assembled from Modified Chitosan-Based Gel Polymer Electrolytes Incorporated with Potassium Iodide
Aimi Mahirah Zulkifli,
Nur Izzah Aqilah Mat Said,
Shujahadeen Bakr Aziz,
Elham Mohammed Ali Dannoun,
Shameer Hisham,
Shahan Shah,
Amnani Abu Bakar,
Zul Hazrin Zainal,
Hairul Anuar Tajuddin,
Jihad Mohammed Hadi,
Mohamad Ali Brza,
Salah Raza Saeed,
Peshawa Omer Amin
Affiliations
Aimi Mahirah Zulkifli
Visible Spectrum Laboratory, Centre for Ionics University of Malaya, Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia
Nur Izzah Aqilah Mat Said
Visible Spectrum Laboratory, Centre for Ionics University of Malaya, Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia
Shujahadeen Bakr Aziz
Advanced Polymeric Materials Research Lab., Department of Physics, College of Science, University of Sulaimani, Qlyasan Street, Sulaimani 46001, Iraq
Elham Mohammed Ali Dannoun
Associate Director of General Science Department, Woman Campus, Prince Sultan University, Riyadh 11586, Saudi Arabia
Shameer Hisham
Organic Research Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia
Shahan Shah
Visible Spectrum Laboratory, Centre for Ionics University of Malaya, Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia
Amnani Abu Bakar
Department of Civil Engineering Technology, Faculty of Engineering Technology, University Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, Edu Hub Pagoh, Pancor Johor 84600, Malaysia
Zul Hazrin Zainal
Visible Spectrum Laboratory, Centre for Ionics University of Malaya, Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia
Hairul Anuar Tajuddin
Organic Research Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia
Jihad Mohammed Hadi
College of Engineering, Tishk International University, Sulaymaniyah 46001, Iraq
Mohamad Ali Brza
Manufacturing and Materials Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, International Islamic University of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Gombak, Malaysia
Salah Raza Saeed
Charmo Research Center, Unit of Physics, Charmo University, Peshawa Street, Chamchamal, Sulaimani 46001, Iraq
Peshawa Omer Amin
Charmo Research Center, Unit of Physics, Charmo University, Peshawa Street, Chamchamal, Sulaimani 46001, Iraq
In the present work, phthaloyl chitosan (PhCh)-based gel polymer electrolytes (GPEs) were prepared using dimethylformamide (DMF) as a solvent, ethyl carbonate (EC) as a co-solvent, and a set of five quaternaries of potassium iodide (KI) as a doping salt, which is a mixed composition of iodine (I2). The prepared GPEs were applied to dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC) to observe the effectiveness of the electrolyte, using mesoporous TiO2, which was sensitized with N3 dye as the sensitizer. The incorporation of the potassium iodide-based redox couple in a polymer electrolyte is fabricated for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The number of compositions was based on the chemical equation, which is 1:1 for KI:I2. The electrical performance of prepared GPE systems have been assessed using electrical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), and dielectric permittivity. The improvement in the ionic conductivity of PhCh-based GPE was observed with the rise of salt concentration, and the maximum ionic conductivity (4.94 × 10−2 S cm−1) was achieved for the 0.0012 mol of KI:I2. The study of dielectric permittivity displays that ions with a high dielectric constant are associated with a high concentration of added ions. Furthermore, the gel polymer electrolyte samples were applied to DSSCs to detect the conversion effectiveness of the electrolytes. For electrolytes containing various content of KI:I2 the highest conversion efficiency (η%) of DSSC obtained was 3.57% with a short circuit current density (Jsc) of 20.33 mA cm−2, open-circuit voltage (Voc) of 0.37 V, fill factor (FF) of 0.47, as well as a conductivity of 2.08 × 10−2 S cm−1.
