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The conducting polymer electrolyte based on polypyrrole-polyvinyl alcohol and its application in low-cost quasi-solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells

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Abstract

The effect of polypyrrole (PPy) on the polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)-potassium iodide (KI)-iodine (I2) polymer electrolytes has been investigated and optimized to use in a dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC). The different weight ratios of PVA: PPy (93: 2, 91: 4, 89: 6, 87: 8, and 85: 10 wt%) polymer electrolytes (PE) were prepared by solution casting. Structural, complex formation and surface roughness of the prepared electrolytes was confirmed by X-ray diffraction, FTIR, and atomic force microscopy (AFM) respectively. Conductivity plots of all polymer films showed increasing trend with temperature and concentration of PPy. The activation energy of the optimized system found to be 0.871 kJ mol−1. UV-visible spectrum was adopted to characterize the absorption spectra of the material revealed that increase in the absorbance with increasing PPy content and shifting the absorbance maximum towards lower energy. The indirect band gap decreased from 3.78 to 2.14 eV and direct band gap decreased from 3.88 to 2.71 eV. The EIS analyses revealed the lower charge transfer resistance of 3.029 Ω cm2 at the interface between CE and PE. The excellent performance was observed in the fabricated DSSCs using PVA (85%)/PPy (10%)/KI (5%)/I2 polymer electrolyte with a short-circuit current density of 11.071 mA cm−2, open-circuit voltage of 0.644 V, fill factor of 0.575, and photovoltaic conversion efficiency of 4.09% under the light intensity of 100 mW cm−2. Hence, the PPy content in polymer electrolyte influences the remarkable performance of low-cost DSSC.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are thankful to CEESAT, the National Institute of Technology (NIT), Trichy, Tamil Nadu, for providing FTIR, UV-vis, and XRD facility. The authors are also thankful to Department of Nanoscience & Technology, SREC, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, for providing Solar Simulator studies. Mr. U.S. Ramaswamy, Associate professor, Department of English, Kamaraj College of Engineering and Technology, Virudhunagar, is gratefully acknowledged for his valuable guidance and for proof reading the article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, Kamaraj College of Engineering and Technology, K. Vellakulam, Virudhunagar, Madurai, Tamil Nadu, 625 701, India

    K. M. Manikandan & A. Yelilarasi

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kamaraj College of Engineering and Technology, K.Vellakulam, Virudhunagar, Madurai, Tamil Nadu, 625 701, India

    P. Senthamaraikannan & S. S. Saravanakumar

  3. Chemistry Department, King Abdulaziz University, P.O. Box 80203, Jeddah, 21589, Saudi Arabia

    Anish Khan & Abdullah M. Asiri

  4. Center of Excellence for Advanced Materials Research, King Abdulaziz University, P.O. Box 80203, Jeddah, 21589, Saudi Arabia

    Anish Khan & Abdullah M. Asiri

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  1. K. M. Manikandan
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Correspondence to K. M. Manikandan.

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Manikandan, K.M., Yelilarasi, A., Senthamaraikannan, P. et al. The conducting polymer electrolyte based on polypyrrole-polyvinyl alcohol and its application in low-cost quasi-solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells. J Solid State Electrochem 22, 3785–3797 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10008-018-4070-4

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