Carrageenan-ionic liquid electrolyte system for dye-sensitized solar cells

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC) are the latest generation of photovoltaic cells being explored. By the use of solar energy, conversion processes occur within the cell, yielding to the production of work or electricity. However, replacement of liquid electrolyte systems of DSSCs are highly sought in order to eliminate the problems on leakage, evaporation of liquid and ineffective sealing. This study investigated the incorporation of imidazolium-based ionic liquid (IL) to K-carrageenan together with the I/I3 redox couple, to make up the polymer electrolyte system for DSSC. The characterization methods done to examine the different polymer blends were Infrared Spectroscopy, Thermal Analysis, surface morphological studies, Cyclic Voltammetry and Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy. Fabrication of DSSC using the polymer electrolyte system was done and the efficiencies were obtained by a solar simulator. Tests revealed that higher concentration of IL improved the solar cell\u27s efficiency, while lower concentration of carrageenan increased the ionic mobility in the system. Various side reactions within the system occur alongside the forward reactions, which may hindered the maximum potential of the DSSCs. Although low efficiencies were achieved (\u3c0.05%), the inaccuracies and problems were presented to account for the low yield and so improve the DSSC for future studies