Polymers 2016, 8(5), 163; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym8050163
The Effect of Lithium Iodide to the Properties of Carboxymethyl κ-Carrageenan/Carboxymethyl Cellulose Polymer Electrolyte and Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell Performance
1
Pusat Asasi, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Cawangan Selangor, Kampus Dengkil, 43800 Dengkil, Malaysia
2
Institut Siswazah, Universiti Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
3
Sekolah Sains Kimia dan Teknologi Makanan, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 Bangi, Malaysia
4
Pusat Asasi Sains, Universiti Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Academic Editors: Christine Wandrey and Do-Hoon Hwang
Received: 4 February 2016 / Revised: 18 March 2016 / Accepted: 31 March 2016 / Published: 13 May 2016
Abstract
This study was undertaken to investigate the solid biopolymer electrolytes based on a carboxymethyl κ-carrageenan/carboxymethyl cellulose blend complexed with lithium iodide of various weight ratios. The complexation of the doping salt with the polymer blend was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Ionic conductivity of the film was determined by impedance spectroscopy in the frequency range of 10 Hz to 4 MHz and in the temperature range of 303–338 K. The ionic conductivity increased with the increase in lithium iodide concentration as well as temperature. The membrane comprising 30 wt % of lithium iodide was found to give the highest conductivity of 3.89 × 10−3 S·cm−1 at room temperature. The increase in conductivity was associated with the increase in the number as well as the mobility of the charge carries. The conductivity increase with temperature followed the Vogel–Tamman–Fulcher model. The fabricated dye-sensitive solar cell, FTO/TiO2-dye/CMKC/CMCE-LiI (30 wt %) +I2/Pt exhibited the highest conversion efficiency of 0.11% at a light intensity of 100 mW·cm−2. This indicated that the biopolymer blend electrolyte system has potential for use in dye-sensitized solar cells. View Full-TextKeywords:
κ-carrageenan; kenaf-cellulose; polymer blend; polymer electrolytes; dye sensitized solar cell
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Che Balian, S.R.; Ahmad, A.; Mohamed, N.S. The Effect of Lithium Iodide to the Properties of Carboxymethyl κ-Carrageenan/Carboxymethyl Cellulose Polymer Electrolyte and Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell Performance. Polymers 2016, 8, 163.
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