Organosoluble Starch-Cellulose Binary Polymer Blend as a Quasi-Solid Electrolyte in a Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell

Vidhya Selvanathan; Rosiyah Yahya; Mohd Hafidz Ruslan; Kamaruzzaman Sopian; Nowshad Amin; Majid Nour; Hatem Sindi; Muhyaddin Rawa; Md Akhtaruzzaman

doi:10.3390/polym12030516

Organosoluble Starch-Cellulose Binary Polymer Blend as a Quasi-Solid Electrolyte in a Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell

Polymers (Basel). 2020 Feb 27;12(3):516. doi: 10.3390/polym12030516.

Authors

Vidhya Selvanathan¹, Rosiyah Yahya², Mohd Hafidz Ruslan¹, Kamaruzzaman Sopian¹, Nowshad Amin³, Majid Nour⁴, Hatem Sindi⁴, Muhyaddin Rawa⁵, Md Akhtaruzzaman^{1

6}

Affiliations

¹ Solar Energy Research Institute (SERI), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Bangi 43600, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia.
² Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia.
³ Institute of Sustainable Energy, Universiti Tenaga Nasional (@The National Energy University), Jalan IKRAM-UNITEN, 43000 Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia.
⁴ Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia.
⁵ Centre of Research Excellence in Renewable Energy and Power Systems, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia.
⁶ Department of Electrical, Electronic and Systems Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment, The National University of Malaysia, 43600 Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia.

Abstract

This work is a pioneer attempt to fabricate quasi-solid dye-sensitized solar cell (QSDDSC) based on organosoluble starch derivative. Rheological characterizations of the PhSt-HEC blend based gels exhibited viscoelastic properties favorable for electrolyte fabrication. From amplitude sweep and tack test analyses, it was evident that the inclusion of LiI improved the rigidity and tack property of the gels. On the other hand, the opposite was true for TPAI based gels, which resulted in less rigid and tacky electrolytes. The crystallinity of the gels was found to decline with increasing amount of salt in both systems. The highest photoconversion efficiency of 3.94% was recorded upon addition of 12.5 wt % TPAI and this value is one of the highest DSSC performance recorded for starch based electrolytes. From electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), it is deduced that the steric hindrance imposed by bulky cations aids in hindering recombination between photoanode and electrolyte.

Keywords: dye-sensitized solar cell; hydroxyethyl cellulose; phthaloyl starch; quasi-solid electrolyte; rheology.

Grants and funding

MI2019-014/Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia