Improvement of the Photovoltaic Performance of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells by Using Mesoporous Carbon in Polyvinylidene Fluoride/1-Methyl-3-Hexylimidazolium Iodide Gel Electrolyte

Mesoporous carbon (MC) materials with wormhole-like mesopores were prepared and incorporated into the polymer gel electrolyte comprising of polyvinylidene fluoride and 1-methyl-3-hexylimidazolium iodide. These gel composites were employed as the electrolyte for quasi-solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells. The photovoltaic performance of the quasi-solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells improved through incorporating MC into electrolyte. The dye-sensitized solar cell with composite gel electrolyte containing 3 wt% MC achieved the best photovoltaic performance, and the corresponding open-circuit voltage, short-circuit current density, fill factor and overall conversion efficiency were 0.59V, 13.22 mAcm-2, 0.66 and 5.15%, respectively. The stability of dye-sensitized solar cells with composite gel electrolyte was found to be far superior to the cell with organic liquid electrolyte.