S.C., Y.B.C., and L.S. thank the Australian Research Council for financial support through the Discovery, Linkage International and Centre of Excellence (Australian Centre for Electromaterials Science) programs. S.M.Z. and M.G. thank The Swiss National Science Foundation for the financial support.
1616-3028/asset/2126_centre.gif?v=1&s=c88ccad5117044f38366989c886e57ea3f100c56)
Full Paper
Novel Nano-Structured Silica-Based Electrolytes Containing Quaternary Ammonium Iodide Moieties†
Article first published online: 5 SEP 2007
DOI: 10.1002/adfm.200700391
Copyright © 2007 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
Additional Information
How to Cite
Cerneaux, S., Zakeeruddin, S. M., Pringle, J. M., Cheng, Y.-B., Grätzel, M. and Spiccia, L. (2007), Novel Nano-Structured Silica-Based Electrolytes Containing Quaternary Ammonium Iodide Moieties. Adv. Funct. Mater., 17: 3200–3206. doi: 10.1002/adfm.200700391
- †
Publication History
- Issue published online: 29 OCT 2007
- Article first published online: 5 SEP 2007
- Manuscript Revised: 24 MAY 2007
- Manuscript Received: 5 APR 2007
Funded by
- Australian Research Council
- Discovery, Linkage International
- Centre of Excellence (Australian Centre for Electromaterials Science)
- Swiss National Science Foundation
- Abstract
- References
- Cited By
Keywords:
- Electrolytes;
- Hybrid materials;
- Nanostructures;
- Solar cells
Abstract
A series of new hybrid organic-inorganic molecules were prepared either by grafting of aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTS) on silica nanoparticles followed by quaternarization of the nitrogen with ethyl, heptyl and isopropyl iodides or by grafting of N,N,N-triethyl-3-(triethoxysilyl)propan-1-aminium iodide and N,N,N-tridodecyl-3-(triethoxysilyl)propan-1-aminium iodide onto the silica nanoparticles. These new materials were used as iodide sources in the preparation of electrolyte solutions for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The performance of DSSCs was studied as a function of the nature of the solvent, the nature of the dye, the concentration of the modified silica in the electrolyte system and the silica content introduced during the hybrid synthesis. An efficiency of 8.5 % was obtained for solar cells containing the triethyl ammonium iodide salt at a concentration of 1 M in either acetonitrile (AN) or 3-methoxypropionitrile (MPN) under an illumination of 10 mW cm–2, the equivalent of 0.1 Sun at AM 1.5G. At 1 Sun (100 mW cm–2, efficiencies of 6.6 % and 5.1 % were recorded for the AN and MPN-based electrolytes, respectively.