Development of liquid crystal embedded in polymer electrolytes composed of click polymers for dye-sensitized solar cell applications

Two different methods were used to synthesize fluorene-based click polymers, and their effects on their photovoltaic performance in dye-sensitized solar cells were compared. The dye-sensitized solar cells with a configuration of SnO2:F/TiO2/N719 dye/polymer electrolyte/Pt devices were fabricated using these click polymers as the electrolyte components. We also compared the photovoltaic performance of these liquid crystal embedded in click polymers to that of poly(acrylonitrile). Among the devices, the device composed of the CuI-catalyzed click polymer exhibited high power conversion efficiency of 4.70% at 1 sun, which was as high as that of the poly(acrylonitrile)-composed polymer electrolyte.