Enhancing the performance of dye-sensitized solar cells by incorporating mesoporous carbon in polymer gel electrolyte

Mesoporous carbon (MC) materials with surface area of 400 m(2)g(-1) were prepared and incorporated into the polymer gel electrolyte comprising of polyvinylidene fluoride and 1-methyl-3-hexylimidazolium iodide to fabricate the composite gel electrolytes. The photovoltaic performance of the quasi-solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells was improved through incorporating MC into electrolyte. The dye-sensitized solar cell with composite gel electrolyte containing 3 wt% MC achieved the best photovoltaic performance, and the corresponding open-circuit voltage, short-circuit current density, fill factor and overall conversion efficiency were 0.59V, 13.22 mAcm(-2), 0.66 and 5.15%, respectively. The stability of dye-sensitized solar cells with composite gel electrolyte was far superior to the cell with organic liquid electrolyte.