Development Of Ionic Liquid Swelled Poly-Electrolyte Membranes For Use In Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells
Date of Award
January 2012
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Department
Chemical Engineering
First Advisor
Edward Kolodka
Abstract
Poly(diallyldimethylammonium iodide) (poly(DADMAI)) was obtained from poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride) (poly(DADMAC)), via a simple ion exchange. This novel polyelectrolyte was then swelled with 1-alkyl-3-methyl imidazolium iodide and used in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC). It was hypothesized that the swelled polyelectrolyte would combine the excellent performance of low viscosity electrolyte solvents with the high stability of low vapor pressure solid-state electrolytes, leading to a high performance and an improved longevity in DSSC electrolytes. A factorial design was implemented to determine the effects of polymer type, polymer molecular weight, ionic liquid loading and ionic liquid alkyl chain length. High power conversion efficiencies achieved 1.60% for low molecular weight poly(DADMAI) swelled with 1-hexyl-3-methyl imidazolium iodide and after 45 days 41.0% of this initial power conversion efficiency was retained. This is a substantial improvement over acetonitrile electrolyte DSSC, whose longevity was only a few hours despite showing an initial 2.34% power conversion efficiency.
Recommended Citation
Schmid, Eric D., "Development Of Ionic Liquid Swelled Poly-Electrolyte Membranes For Use In Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells" (2012). Theses and Dissertations. 1270.
https://commons.und.edu/theses/1270