Dye-Senstitized Solar Cells based on poly(vinylidene fluoride-hexafluoro propylene)/LiClO4 nanofibers by electrospinning method

In this study, we fabricated the electrospun poly(vinylidene fluoride-hexafluoro propylene) (PVDF-HFP) /LiClO
4
nanofibers by electrospinning method and applied as polymer membrane on the Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells. We have prepared the DSSC devices, using Ruthenium dye as a photosensitizer, sandwiched with TiO
2
-deposited and Pt-coated electrode as two electrodes. To compare with the effect of LiClO
4
in PVDF-HFP nanofibers on photovoltaic performance, we prepared electrospun PVDF-HFP nanofibers without LiClO
4
. Photovoltaic characteristics were measured by using Solar Simulator with a black mask under AM 1.5. The V
oc
of the DSSC device was 0.773 V, the J
sc
was 9.77 mA/cm
²
, and the overall power conversion efficiency achieved up to 4.19 %. The photovoltaic performances of the DSSC device using electrospun PVDF-HFP nanofibers without LiClO
4
were lower than that of device using electrospun PVDF-HFP/LiClO
4
nanofibers. To investigate the photovoltaic effect of different LiClO
4
concentrations in electrolyte solutions, the electrospun PVDF-HFP nanofibers without LiClO
4
were soaked into the electrolyte solution with different LiClO
4
concentrations. An increase of concentration of LiClO
4
in electrolyte solution results in a decrease of photocurrent and efficiency due to the desorption of dyes by LiClO
4
.