High-efficiency dye-sensitized solar cells fabricated with electrospun PVdF-HFP polymer nanofibre-based gel electrolytes

Poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene) (PVdF-HFP) electrospun polymer nanofibre-based quasi-solid or gel electrolytes were successfully fabricated by incorporating a liquid electrolyte within the nanofibre membrane. The dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) fabricated with gel and with liquid electrolyte were characterized by photocurrent–voltage measurements and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy measurements. The maximum efficiency (η) of 6.79% was observed for the DSSC fabricated with optimized nanofibre membrane thickness, corresponding to 4 min of electrospinning time. The optimized PVdF-HFP nanofibre gel electrolyte shows an ionic conductivity of 7.16 × 10−3 S cm–1 at 25°C, while the corresponding liquid electrolyte exhibits an ionic conductivity of 11.69 × 10–3 S cm–1 at the same temperature. The open circuit voltage (Voc), short circuit current density (Jsc) and fill factor were recorded as 801.40 mV, 12.70 mA cm–2, and 66.67%, respectively, at an incident light intensity of 100 mW cm–2 with a 1.5 AM filter. The nanofibre gel electrolyte-based cell showed an efficiency of 6.79%, whereas the efficiency of the conventional liquid electrolyte-based cell was 7.28% under the same conditions. Furthermore, nanofibre gel electrolyte-based cells exhibited better stability, maintaining 85.40% of initial efficiency after 120 h. These results show that the optimized, polymer nanofibre-based gel electrolyte can be used successfully to replace the liquid electrolyte in DSSCs without much loss of efficiency but improving the stability while minimizing most of the drawbacks associated with liquid electrolytes.