Abstract
We report a nanostructural amphiphilic graft copolymer electrolyte based on poly(ethylene glycol) behenyl ether methacrylate (PEGBEM) and poly(oxyethylene methacrylate) (POEM) synthesized via a facile free radical polymerization. The synthesis of PEGBEM-g-POEM graft copolymers, and its interaction with an ionic liquid (i.e., 1-methyl-3-propylimidazolium iodide (MPII)), were confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), wide-angle X-ray scattering (WAXS), small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The addition of MPII reduced the degree of crystallinity of the graft copolymer, resulting in improved ionic conductivity up to 1.4 × 10-6 S/cm at 25 °C. The efficiency of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) with this graft copolymer electrolyte (3.6%) was higher than those of DSSCs with homopolymer electrolytes (2.3 to 2.5%), indicating the effectiveness of the nanostructural graft copolymer. The higher efficiency resulted from an improved current density (Jsc) due to enhanced polymer flexibility and reduced crystallinity.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 24-30 |
| Number of pages | 7 |
| Journal | Solid State Ionics |
| Volume | 290 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2016 Jul |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This work was supported by the Agency for Defense Development as a part of the basic research program ( UD130049GD ), the Center for Advanced Meta-Materials ( NRF-2014M3A6B3063716 ) and the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant ( NRF-2015R1C1A1A01053807 ).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Chemistry(all)
- Materials Science(all)
- Condensed Matter Physics