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Polymers
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Flexible, Highly Efficient Polymer Solar Cells
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Flexible, Highly Efficient Polymer Solar Cells

A special issue of Polymers (ISSN 2073-4360). This special issue belongs to the section "Polymer Applications".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2025) | Viewed by 1508

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Tao Liu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Resources, Environment and Materials, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China.
Interests: Photoelectric functional materials and devices, in organic/perovskite solar energy, photosensitizer treatment of cancer cells, photocatalytic treatment of organic matter and metal ions in wastewater
Dr. Libin Zhang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
State Key Laboratory of Luminescent Materials and Devices, Institute of Polymer Optoelectronic Materials and Devices, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China
Interests: research on photocatalytic properties of organic semiconductors

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Worldwide concern over the consequences of traditional energy usage is driving the development of devices for clean energy conversion such as fuel cells and solar cells. Design of polymeric materials that address a number of issues including high ionic conduction under reduced humidity conditions, fuel crossover, the balance between water uptake / dimensional stability and proton conduction, chemical stability, the catalyst—PEM interface, ionomer, and fuel cell durability are needed. Polymer solar cells have been considered as an attractive and promising approach to solve energy and environment issues, due to their light-weight, low-cost, flexibility, rapid energy payback time, and high-throughput roll-to-roll manufacturing.

This Special Issue on “Flexible, Highly Efficient Polymer Solar Cells” aims to reflect the progress and phenomena related to organic electronic devices such as photovoltaic cells, photo-sensors, thin film transistors, and light-emitting diodes, etc. We look forward to your contribution describing your recent promising research.

Prof. Dr. Tao Liu
Dr. Libin Zhang
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Polymers is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • solar cell
  • polymer electrolytes
  • gel-polymer electrolytes
  • organic batteries
  • flexible transparent electrode
  • batteries
  • synthesis

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

23 pages, 4355 KB  
Article
Impedance Spectroscopy Study of Solid Co(II/III) Redox Mediators Prepared with Poly(Ethylene Oxide), Succinonitrile, Cobalt Salts, and Lithium Perchlorate for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells
by Ravindra Kumar Gupta, Ahamad Imran, Aslam Khan, Muhammad Ali Shar, Khalid M. Alotaibi, Idriss Bedja and Abdullah Saleh Aldwayyan
Polymers 2026, 18(1), 142; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym18010142 - 4 Jan 2026
Viewed by 652
Abstract
Countries like Saudi Arabia receive abundant sunshine with exceptionally high solar irradiance. High temperatures in desert regions and the sunray angle dependence of solar modules are some of the key challenges of conventional solar cells. Dye-sensitized solar cells present a compelling alternative with [...] Read more.
Countries like Saudi Arabia receive abundant sunshine with exceptionally high solar irradiance. High temperatures in desert regions and the sunray angle dependence of solar modules are some of the key challenges of conventional solar cells. Dye-sensitized solar cells present a compelling alternative with the simple cell design and use of non-toxic materials without angle dependence, but their performance hinges on the solid redox mediators used for dye regeneration. These mediators must have an electrical conductivity (σ25°C) of more than 10−4 S cm−1 with an activation energy of less than 0.3 eV for device application. Our work focused on novel solid Co(II/III) redox mediators using cobalt complexes and LiClO4 in different matrices: pure PEO (an abbreviation for poly(ethylene oxide) with its redox mediator as M1), a [PEO–SN] blend (M2A and M2B with ethylene oxide to lithium ions molar ratio of 112.9 and 225.8, respectively), and pure SN (an abbreviation for succinonitrile with its redox mediator as M3). Impedance spectroscopy was the key technique, showing M1 and M2 behave like a mediator explainable with an (R1–C)-type circuit, while M3 is explainable with an (R1 − [R2‖C])-type circuit. M3 achieved the highest value of σ25°C with 2 × 10−3 S cm−1, while M1 had the lowest σ25°C, 3 × 10−5 S cm−1. M2 achieved an optimal balance with σ25°C of 4 × 10−4 S cm−1 (M2A) and 1.5 × 10−4 S cm−1 (M2B). M2 exhibited a remarkably low pseudo-activation energy of 0.042 eV and a Vogel–Tammann–Fulcher behavior ideal for consistent performance across temperatures. In contrast, M1 and M3 showed higher Arrhenius-type activation energies (>0.74 eV) in their solid states. These results correlated with those of the XRD, FT-IR spectroscopy, XPS, SEM, DSC, and TGA analyses. Ultimately, the [PEO–SN] blend emerges as a robust matrix, enabling the combination of high conductivity and low activation energy needed for a durable device in harsh environments. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Flexible, Highly Efficient Polymer Solar Cells)
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