Hematite Fe₂O₃ Nanoparticles Incorporated Polyvinyl Alcohol Based Polymer Electrolytes for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Abstract:

Influence of hematite iron oxide nanoparticles (α-Fe₂O₃ NPs) on ionic conductivity of polyvinyl alcohol/KI/I₂ (PVA/KI/I₂) polymer electrolytes was investigated in this work. The pure and different weight percentage (wt %) ratios (2, 3, 4 and 5 % with respect to PVA) of α-Fe₂O₃ NPs incorporated PVA/KI/I₂ polymer electrolyte films were prepared by solution casting method using DMSO as solvent. The prepared polymer electrolyte films were characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, X-ray diffractometer (XRD) and alternating current (AC)-impedance analysis. The AC-impedance studies revealed a significant increase in the ionic conductivity of α-Fe₂O₃ NPs incorporated PVA/KI/I₂ polymer electrolytes than compared to pure PVA/KI/I₂. This incorporated polymer electrolytes reduces the crystallinity of the polymer and enhance the mobility of I^-/I₃^- redox couple, thereby increasing the ionic conductivity of polymer electrolytes. The highest ionic conductivity of 1.167 × 10^-4 Scm^-1 was observed for 4 wt % of α-Fe₂O₃ NPs incorporated PVA/KI/I₂ polymer electrolyte. Also, the dye sensitized solar cell (DSSC) fabricated with this electrolyte showed an enhanced power conversion efficiency of 3.62 % than that of pure PVA/KI/I₂ electrolyte (1.51 %). Thus, the synthesized α-Fe₂O₃ NPs added polymer electrolyte can be serve as a suitable material for dye sensitized solar cell application studies.

• Periodical: Materials Science Forum (Volume 832)
• Pages: 72-83
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/MSF.832.72
• Online since: November 2015
• Authors: R.A. Senthil, J. Theerthagiri, J. Madhavan
• Keywords: Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell, Ionic Conductivity, Polymer Electrolyte, PVA, α-Fe₂O₃ Nanoparticles

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