An all-solid-state lamellar-nanostructured polymer electrolyte in-situ-prepared from smectic liquid crystal for thermally stable dye-sensitized solar cells. (10th August 2020) - Li, Xueyong
Graphical abstract: An all-solid-state electrolyte in-situ -prepared from a smectic precursor retained almost the original performance in a thermally stable dye-sensitized solar cell. Highlights: A novel iodine-free all-solid-state polymer electrolyte was prepared for DSSCs. Lamellar polymer electrolyte was in-situ prepared from a smectic liquid crystal. The polymer electrolyte retained original performance of liquid crystal in DSSC. The DSSC showed a thermally stable performance within a wide temperature range. Abstract: A novel all-solid-state polymer electrolyte based on thiolate/disulfide redox couple was in-situ prepared from a lamellar-assembled liquid crystal precursor for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The use of the thiolate/disulfide redox couple allowed the in-situ polymerization, which ensured both preservation of the lamellar nanostructure in electrolyte and sufficient interfacial contact in DSSC. Electrochemical analysis revealed that the lamellar-nanostructured electrolyte possessed charge transport ability and photovoltaic performance quite close to the liquid crystal electrolyte precursor. The resultant all-solid-state DSSCs showed a thermally stable photovoltaic performance with PCE higher than 2% from 35 to 90 °C. The method in using in-situ polymerization of nanostructured liquid crystals to prepare solid-state electrolytes shed a new light for efficient and stable all-solid-state DSSC preparation, especially in large-scale actual application.