Issue 41, 2017

Iodine induced 1-D lamellar self assembly in organic ionic crystals for solid state dye sensitized solar cells

Abstract

A novel saturated heterocyclic organic ionic crystal, piperidinium iodide (PiHI), is synthesized by a facile route and applied as a solid electrolyte in Dye Sensitized Solar Cells (ss-DSSCs). Upon addition of a small quantity of iodine, PiHI self-assembles into a 1D lamellar micro crystalline structure that shows anisotropic conductivity. The two-component PiHI was characterized by using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, cyclic voltammetry, steady state voltammetry, FT-IR, and Raman spectroscopy. Wide angle X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurement confirms the presence of long range 1D lamellar channels that pave the way for the diffusion of the redox couple I/I3 and exhibit high anisotropic conductivity. The ionic conductivity of 1D PiHI (with I2) aligned perpendicular to the electrode, σ (15.46 mS cm−1), is 1.5 times higher than that aligned parallel to the electrode σ = 10.32 mS cm−1. The ss-DSSC devices with these self-assembled ordered ionic crystals with a carbazole based sensitizer (SK1) achieved a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 4.2% and 5.2% for ∥al and ⊥ar arrangement, respectively. The reported PCEs are better than that obtained from a classical liquid electrolyte with SK1 sensitizers. The electron kinetics at various interfaces of ss-DSSC devices was evaluated using Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) measurements. The presence of a saturated cyclic structure promotes close packing through H-bonding and electrostatic interactions, which make ss-DSSC devices more stable up to 600 h under illumination of 1 sun.

Graphical abstract: Iodine induced 1-D lamellar self assembly in organic ionic crystals for solid state dye sensitized solar cells

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
17 Aug 2017
Accepted
13 Sep 2017
First published
14 Sep 2017

Nanoscale, 2017,9, 15949-15957

Iodine induced 1-D lamellar self assembly in organic ionic crystals for solid state dye sensitized solar cells

J. V. Vaghasiya, K. K. Sonigara, T. Beuvier, A. Gibaud and S. S. Soni, Nanoscale, 2017, 9, 15949 DOI: 10.1039/C7NR06128E

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