Performance of Dye Sensitized Solar Cells Fabricated with Electrospun Polymer Nanofiber Based Electrolyte

Nanofiber (NF) based gel polymer electrolytes were prepared by soaking electrospun polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanofiber membranes of different thicknesses in an optimized liquid electrolyte having the composition of 0.8 g PC: 0.17 g Pr4NI: 0.0139 g I2. Dye Sensitized Solar Cells (DSSCs) of configuration FTO/TiO2/dye/PAN NF:Pr4NI:PC:I2/Pt/FTO were fabricated using gel electrolyte films of different thicknesses and characterized using I-V measurements. The DSSC fabricated with the gel electrolyte with optimized nanofiber membrane thickness showed an efficiency of 5.44% with an open circuit voltage of 735.0 mV, short circuit current density of 14.49 mA cm-2 and a fill factor of 51.06%.