Layered double hydroxides as an effective additive in polymer gelled electrolyte based dye-sensitized solar cells

Layered double hydroxides (LDH), a class of anionic clay materials, were developed as an effective additive for polymer gelled electrolytes for use in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC). Carbonate and chloride intercalated Zn-Al LDHs, ZnAl-CO3 LDH, and ZnAl-Cl LDH were prepared with coprecipitation methods. The addition of the two LDHs significantly improved, in terms of power conversion efficiency (PCE), over the plain poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene) (PVDF-HFP) gelled electrolyte and competed favorably with the liquid electrolyte based DSSCs, 8.13% for the liquid electrolyte, 7.48% for the plain PVDF-HFP gelled electrolyte, 8.11% for the ZnAl-CO3 LDH/PVDF-HFP gelled electrolyte, and 8.00% for the ZnAl-Cl LDH/PVDF-HFP gelled electrolyte based DSSCs. The good performance in PCEs achieved by the LDH-loaded DSSCs came mainly from the significant boost in open circuit voltages (Voc), from 0.74 V for both the liquid electrolyte and PVDF-HFP gelled electrolyte based DSSCs to 0.79 V for both the ZnAl-CO3 LDH/PVDF-HFP and ZnAl-Cl LDH/PVDF-HFP gelled electrolyte based DSSCs. The boost in Voc was contributed mainly by the positive shift in redox potential of the redox couple, I(-)/I3(-), as revealed from cyclic voltammetry analyses. As for the long-term stability, PCE retention rates of 96 and 99% after 504 h were achieved by the ZnAl-CO3 LDH/PVDF-HFP and ZnAl-Cl LDH/PVDF-HFP gelled electrolyte based DSSCs, respectively, appreciably better than 92% achieved by the liquid electrolyte based one after 480 h.