Organic Alloy Electrolytes for Thermostable Solid-State Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

•Organic alloy electrolyte was investigated for solid-state DSSCs.•SCN-NPG electrolyte exhibits high ionic conductivity and improved thermal stability.•The DSSC with the SCN-NPG electrolyte shows high efficiency and operational stability.

Organic alloy solid electrolytes were prepared based on succinonitrile-neopentylglycol (SCN-NPG) eutectics for Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The solid-state electrolytes with the SCN:NPG ratios of 40:60 to 20:80 mol% exhibited a very high conductivity of >2.0 mS cm−1 at room temperature. The DSSC cell with the organic alloy electrolyte showed highest photoconversion efficiency of 4.4% at 100 mW cm−2 and a long-term stability as compared with organic liquid or melted plastic electrolytes, offering a low cost, thermostable solid-state electrolyte for commercial development of high efficient dye-sensitized solar cells.

Graphical abstractOrganic alloy solid electrolytes based on the SCN:NPG (40:60 mol%) exhibited very high conductivities of 2.14 mS cm−1 at room temperature and resulted in a quite high photoconversion efficiency of 4.4% in the solid-state DSSCs.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide