Effective inorganic-organic composite electrolytes for efficient solid-state dye sensitized solar cells

Effective composite electrolytes of different inorganic nanofiller (TiO
₂
, SiO
₂
, Al
₂
O
₃
) and polyethylene glycol (PEG) were prepared for the fabrication of dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The morphological and structural studies revealed that the crystallinity of Al
₂
O
₃
-PEG composite electrolyte was lower than TiO
₂
-PEG, SiO
₂
-PEG electrolyte and PEG only. AL2O3-PEG composite electrolyte showed the highest ionic conductivity of 4.1 mS.cm
^-1
owing to its high homogeneity and good mixing between PEG and Al
₂
O
₃
. DSSC fabricated with Al
₂
O
₃
-PEO composite electrolyte presented the highest conversion efficiency of 5.1% with high J
_SC
of 12.42 mA/cm
²
and V
_OC
of 0.667 V as compared to other composite electrolytes. The introduction of inorganic nanofillers significantly improved the morphological and ionic conductivity of composite electrolyte, resulting in the enhanced photocurrent density, cell efficiency and stability of device.