Iodide-conducting plastic crystals based on N,N-dimethyl-2-(methylsilyloxy) ethanaminium cations (MESEAn+) for application in dye-sensitized solar cells

The properties of the PCEs are investigated by vibrational spectroscopy (MIR FT-IR), high-resolution thermogravimetric analysis (HR-TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and broadband electrical spectroscopy (BES) in order to study the correlations between the structural features, the conductivity and the composition of the proposed electrolytes. Results show that the PCEs with n = 3 and ρ% = 3.7 exhibit: (a) a melting temperature below 100 °C, which is typically observed in room-temperature ionic liquids; (b) a thermal stability up to 200 °C and (c) a conductivity of 0.8·10−4 S cm−1 at 50 °C.