From crab shell to solar cell: a gel polymer electrolyte based on N-phthaloylchitosan and its application in dye-sensitized solar cells

• Main Authors: Yusuf, S.N.F., Azzahari, A.D., Yahya, R., Majid, Siti Rohana, Careem, M.A., Arof, Abdul Kariem
• Format: Article
• Published: Royal Society of Chemistry 2016
• Subjects: Q Science (General); QC Physics; QD Chemistry
• Online Access: http://eprints.um.edu.my/18734/; http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/c6ra04188d

Chitosan, a biopolymer derived from crab shells which is insoluble in common organic solvents has been converted to the organosoluble N-phthaloylchitosan (PhCh) by reaction with phthalic anhydride in dimethylformamide (DMF). The formation and structure of PhCh was confirmed by the characteristic peaks of phthalimido and aromatic groups observed at 719, 1708 and 1772 cm−1 and two sets of peaks centered at 3.0 and 7.5 ppm obtained from FTIR and 1H NMR analyses respectively. Gel polymer electrolytes consisting of PhCh, ethylene carbonate (EC), and DMF with various amounts of tetrapropylammonium iodide (TPAI) and iodine were prepared. The interaction behavior between polymer–plasticizer–salt was thoroughly investigated using FTIR spectroscopy. The gel polymer electrolyte consisting of PhCh : EC : DMF : TPAI : I2 in a weight ratio (g) of 0.1 : 0.3 : 0.3 : 0.12 : 0.012 showed the highest conductivity of 5.46 × 10−3 S cm−1 at room temperature and exhibited the best performance in DSSCs with efficiency of 5.0%, with JSC of 12.72 mA cm−2, VOC of 0.60 V and fill factor of 0.66.