Effect of Hydroquinone Dderivatives in Electrolytes on Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell Performance

Mazloum Ardakani, M.; Dehghani Firouzabadi, A.; Benvidi, A.; Fatemeh Mirjalili, B. B; Zare, R.

doi:10.7508/jns.2014.01.005

Effect of Hydroquinone Dderivatives in Electrolytes on Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell Performance

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

M. Mazloum Ardakani

A. Dehghani Firouzabadi

A. Benvidi

B. B Fatemeh Mirjalili

R. Zare

Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Yazd University, Yazd 89195-741, Iran

10.7508/jns.2014.01.005

Abstract

New kinds of hydroquinone derivatives were synthesized and along with a azo dye applied as additives in the iodide/iodine redox electrolyte for dye-sensitized solar cells and their effect on the short-circuit photocurrent of dye sensitized solar cells was investigated. Addition of 0.05 M a hydroquinone derivative in the electrolyte comprising 0.5 M 1-methyl-3-propylimidazolium iodide (MPII) and 0.05 M I₂ in a mixture of acetonitrile and valeronitrile (volume ratio, 85:15) enhanced signiﬁcantly photocurrent density from 11.1 to 12.8 mA/cm², and voltage increased from 0.66 to 0.68 V. As a result, overall conversion efﬁciency increased from 4.4% to 4.8%, corresponding to increment of 10.9%.

Keywords

solar cells

light-scattering layer

NanoStructured

TiO2