Influence of cation size and polarity on charge transport in ionic liquid based electrolytes

Abstract

Imidazolium-based ionic liquids (ILs) with allyl and ether side chains were synthesized and characterized. Comprehensive structural and photoelectrochemical characterizations were performed, transport properties of ILs were also examined as electrolyte components in dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The properties of synthesized materials and DSSC performances were compared with 1-propyl-3-methyl imidazolium iodide (PMII) and 1-allyl-3-ethyl imidazolium iodide (AEII) as reference ILs. Ionic conductivities, diffusion coefficients and charge transfer resistances of synthesized ionic liquids were investigated on DSSCs by Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS). The diffusion coefficient values of triiodide ions in different ionic liquid-based electrolytes were measured by the means of diffusion limited current density method and found to be 1.75×10−7 cm2 s−1 and 2.05×10−7 cm2 s−1 with corresponding photocurrent densities of 10.38 mAcm−2 and 12.13 mAcm−2 for the reference AEII and PMII based electrolytes, respectively. However, for the electrolytes of 1-(2-methoxyethyl)-3-allyl imidazolium iodide and 1-allyl-3-methyl imidazolium iodide ionic liquids, these values were found to be 0.86×10−7 cm2 s−1 and 0.57×10−7 cm2 s−1 with photocurrent densities of 9.53 mAcm−2 and 8.98 mAcm−2, respectively. Allyl and ether substituted imidazolium ILs exhibited promising results as potential alternative electrolyte materials for DSSCs.