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Performance comparison of nitrile-based liquid electrolytes on bifacial dye-sensitized solar cells under low-concentrated light

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Abstract

Dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) has low power output and efficiency. Even though the low-concentrated light can increase the \({P}_{\text{OUT}}\) and power conversion efficiency (PCE) of DSSC, the effect of increase in the cell temperature, particularly electrolyte evaporation, becomes a major concern. In this study, we compared and investigated the performance of acetonitrile (AN-50), propionitrile (PN-50), and 3-metoxy propionitrile (Z-100) as nitrile-based electrolyte under low-concentrated light. The results showed 4–8 times increase in \({J}_{\text{SC}}\) and \({P}_{\text{OUT}}\) in all electrolytes. AN-50 demonstrated an improved performance under influence of 2 cm distance concave mirror concentrated light with the highest \({J}_{\text{SC}}\) = 74.21 mA/cm2, \({P}_{\text{OUT}}\) = 24.53 mW/cm2, and \(\eta \) = 7.99%. However, the performance of cell with AN-50 and PN-50 started to degrade within 3 h of measurement. In contrast, Z-100 displayed performance stability during 4 days measurement even with the lowest \({J}_{\text{SC}}\)= 49.98 mA/cm2, \({P}_{\text{OUT}}\) = 19.50 mW/cm2, and \(\eta \) = 6.35%.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electronics, Faculty of Engineering, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, 819-0385, Japan

    Tika E. Putri, Fadzai L. Chawarambwa, Pankaj Attri, Kunihiro Kamataki, Naho Itagaki, Kazunori Koga & Masaharu Shiratani

  2. Department of Electrical and Informatics Engineering, Vocational College, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, 55281, Indonesia

    Tika E. Putri

  3. Center of Plasma Nano-Interface Engineering, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, 819-0385, Japan

    Pankaj Attri & Kazunori Koga

  4. Center for Novel Science Initiatives, National Institutes of Natural Sciences, Fukuoka, 819-0385, Japan

    Kunihiro Kamataki, Naho Itagaki, Kazunori Koga & Masaharu Shiratani

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  1. Tika E. Putri
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  2. Fadzai L. Chawarambwa
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Contributions

TEP performed data collection under the supervision of Kazunori Koga, NI, MS, P.A., assisted sample preparation on the supervision of Kunihiro Kamataki and FLC, the manuscript was written by TEP with input from other authors.

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Correspondence to Tika E. Putri.

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Putri, T.E., Chawarambwa, F.L., Attri, P. et al. Performance comparison of nitrile-based liquid electrolytes on bifacial dye-sensitized solar cells under low-concentrated light. MRS Advances 7, 427–432 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1557/s43580-022-00270-x

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