A Hybrid Poly(ethylene oxide)/ Poly(vinylidene fluoride)/TiO₂ Nanoparticle Solid‐State Redox Electrolyte for Dye‐Sensitized Nanocrystalline Solar Cells

Abstract

Abstract High‐efficiency all‐solid‐state dye‐sensitized nanocrystalline solar cells have been fabricated using a poly(ethylene oxide)/poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PEO/PVDF)/TiO 2 ‐nanoparticle polymer redox electrolyte, which yields an overall energy‐conversion efficiency of about 4.8 % under irradiation by white light (65.2 mW cm –2 ). The introduction of PVDF (which contains the highly electronegative element fluorine) and TiO 2 nanoparticles into the PEO electrolyte increases the ionic conductivity (by about two orders of magnitude) and effectively reduces the recombination rate at the interface of the TiO 2 and the solid‐state electrolyte, thus enhancing the performance of the solar cell.