Abstract
We investigated the use of graphite as primary filler and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) as secondary filler in chitosan-based polymer electrolyte film which aided in increasing the electrical conductivity of the prepared film. The addition of a small amount of MWNTs as secondary filler increased the A.C. conductivity from 2.6 \(\times\) 10–4 to 1.4 \(\times\) 10−3 S/cm due to the formation of conductive layers by it. The co-sensitized dye obtained from pomegranate and moss (1:1) is evaluated for the fabrication of dye-sensitized solar cells. In place of nanostructured TiO2-based photoanode, we admixed TiO2 with indium oxide (In2O3) to improve the spectral response of TiO2 for obtaining better efficiency. The use of this polymer electrolyte film along with co-sensitized natural dye and admixed photoanode helped in the fabrication of a highly efficient dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) with around 3.8% efficiency.
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Acknowledgements
One of the authors (Dr. Priyanka Chawla) is thankful to CSIR-India for the financial support in the form of Research Associate file no. (08/755(0001)/2020-EMR-I). We are thankful to the Department of Geology, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, for SEM characterization and also to Prof. Shiv Dutt Kumar MNNIT for valuable suggestions. Author Dr Kalpana Awasthi is thankful to the higher education department, Uttar Pradesh, for providing financial support under the research development scheme.
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Pooja, K., Pandey, A.P., Awasthi, K. et al. Development of polymer electrolyte based on graphite/MWNTs fillers for sustainable dye-sensitized solar cell. Chem. Pap. 76, 7623–7632 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11696-022-02439-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11696-022-02439-y