Henriette Santa-Nokki, Sara Busi, J. Kallioinen
Feb 5, 2007
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0
Influential Citations
31
Citations
Journal
Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology A-chemistry
Abstract
Abstract Four new quaternary ammonium iodides, (Me 2 Pe 2 N)I, (Me 2 Hex 2 N)I, (Et 2 Pe 2 N)I and (Et 2 Hex 2 N)I, were synthesized and studied as electrolytes in dye-sensitized solar cells. All compounds were solids at room temperature. Influence of varying amounts of elemental iodine and the effect of tert -butylpyridine (TBP) on the performance of the cell was also studied. Addition of iodine lowered the melting points of the resulting polyiodides. From the ammonium iodides only (Me 2 Hex 2 N)I:I 2 (10:1) was liquid at the room temperature and the others were soft solids. Under illumination from a halogen lamp source at 10 mW cm −2 intensity, the highest power conversion efficiency of 2.4% was obtained with the (Me 2 Hex 2 N)I:I 2 (10:1) liquid electrolyte containing TBP, which may be compared to an efficiency of 5.4% obtained from similar cells with traditional 3-methoxypropionitrile based electrolyte tested under identical conditions. The best efficiency with soft solid electrolyte, (Et 2 Hex 2 N)I:I 2 (10:1) with TBP, was 2.3%.