Polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) based quasi-solid electrolyte with binary iodide salt for efficiency enhancement in TiO2 based dye sensitized solar cells

• Mixed cation effect enhances the efficiency in PMMA gel electrolyte based DSSCs.
• DSSC with 22.2:77.8 (KI:Pr4NI) wt. ratio gives the highest efficiency of 3.99%.
• Efficiency variation with salt composition follows the same trend as the JSC.
• Iodide ion conductivity of the electrolyte appears to correlate with JSC.
• The efficiency enhancement due to the mixed cation effect is about 18%.

Enhancement of efficiency by using iodide mixture (Pr4NI and KI), instead of a single iodide salt, in N719 dye-sensitized solar cells with a polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) based gel electrolyte is investigated. The salt ratio is varied to optimize efficiency. With 100 wt.% KI and 100 wt.% (Pr4NI) efficiencies under AM 1.5 illumination are 3.39% and 3.21%, while 22.2:77.8 wt.% ratio KI:Pr4NI shows the highest efficiency of 3.99 %. This is an efficiency enhancement of 18%. Variation of efficiency with salt composition appears to correspond to the change in short circuit photocurrent density (Jsc) and the iodide ion conductivity.

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