Printable electrolytes based on polyacrylonitrile and gamma-butyrolactone for dye-sensitized solar cell application

• Electrolyte pastes based on gBL are prepared for the printing process of DSSCs.
• PAN, PVA, and PAN-VA are used to regulate the viscosity of the electrolytes.
• TiO2 and TiC nanofillers increase the performance of electrolytes and cells.
• A quasi-solid-state DSSC achieves an efficiency similar to that of a liquid cell.
• The cell with 9 wt% PAN and 4 wt% TiC nanofillers exhibits high stability.

Printable electrolytes for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) are prepared using a low volatile solvent, gamma-butyrolactone (gBL). Various polymers including polyvinyl acetate (PVA), polyacrylonotrile (PAN), and poly(acrylonitrile-co-vinylacetate) (PAN-VA) are used to regulate the viscosity of the electrolytes. The results show that PAN is the best polymer interms of viscosity, conductivity, and performance of the DSSCs. Increasing the concentration of PAN increases the viscosity of the electrolyte paste, which is advantageous to the operation of a printing process but decreases the electrolyte conductivity and cell performance. This drawback can be compensated by introducing of TiO2 or TiC nanofillers. The quasi-solid-state DSSC prepared using a printing process achieves a conversion efficiency (7.85%) similar to that of the corresponding liquid cell (7.87%). The stability test shows that the presence of TiO2 nanofillers triggers a gradual desorption of dye, decreasing DSSC performance. However, this problem does not appear for the electrolyte using TiC nanofillers, with cell efficiency retaining 96% of its initial value after a 500 h test.