Enhancing ionic conductivity in polyethylmethacrylate doped with ionic liquid trimethyl sulfonium iodide polymer electrolyte for dye sensitized solar cells

Abstract Solar radiation offers benefits such as sustainability, renewability, and environmental friendliness. Furthermore, solar energy can generate multiple forms of energy. Over the past 30 years, the use of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) has been extensively investigated due to their simple manufacturing process, low cost, and excellent energy conversion and storage capabilities. In this work, a DSSC was fabricated with a poly(ethyl methacrylate) (PEMA) polymer electrolyte impregnated with an iodide-based ionic liquid. The influence of the ionic liquid on the interfacial characteristics and overall efficiency of the DSSCs with this polymer electrolyte was examined. The ionic liquid-doped polymer electrolyte exhibits an ionic conductivity of 1.27 × 10⁻⁴ S/cm at 40 wt% at room temperature. The DSSC has a conversion efficiency of 1.47% under one-sun conditions. The incorporation of the ionic liquid demonstrated improved stability and efficiency in photovoltaic power generation.