Influence of molecular weight of PEG on the property of polymer gel electrolyte and performance of quasi-solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells

A new kind of polymer gel electrolyte based on poly(acrylic acid)–poly(ethylene glycol) (PAA-PEG) hybrid was synthesized. The factor of molecular weight of PEG in the hybrid plays an important role in determining the liquid electrolyte absorbency of the hybrid and ionic conductivity of the polymer gel electrolyte, sequentially affects the photovoltaic performance of quasi-solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells. Using the hybrid with PEG molecular weight of 20,000, a polymer gel electrolyte with liquid electrolyte absorbency of 6.9 g g−1 and ionic conductivity of 5.35 mS cm−1 was obtained. Based on the polymer gel electrolyte, a quasi-solid-state dye-sensitized solar cell with conversion efficiency of 5.25% was achieved under irradiation of AM 1.5, 100 mW cm−2.