Ionic liquid crystal-based electrolyte with enhanced charge transport for dye-sensitized solar cells

A room temperature ionic liquid crystal, 1-dodecyl-3-ethylimidazolium iodide （C12EImI）, and an ionic liquid, 1-decyl-3- ethylimidazolium iodide （Cl0EImI）, have been synthesized, characterized and employed as the electrolyte for dye-sensitized solar cells （DSSC）. The physicochemical properties show that a smectic A （SmA） phase with a lamellar structure is formed in CIzEImI. Both C^2EImI and Cl0EImI have good electrochemical and thermal stability facilitating their use in DSSC. The steady-state voltammograms reveal that the diffusion coefficient of I3- in C^2EImI is larger than that in CmEImI, which is at- tributed to the existence of the SmA phase in Ca2EImI. Because the iodide species are located between the layers of imidazo- lium cations in CjzEImI, exchange reaction-based diffusion is increased with a consequent increase in, the overall diffusion. The electrochemical impedance spectrum reveals that charge recombination at the dyed TiOJelectrolyte interface of a C12EImI-based DSSC is reduced due to the increase in I3- diffusion, resulting in higher open-circuit voltage. Moreover, both short-circuit current density and fill factor of the Cl2EImI based DSSC increase, as a result of the increasing transport of I3 in C^2EImI. Consequently, the photoelectric conversion efficiency of C^2EImI-based DSSC is higher than that of the Cl0EImI-based DSSC.

Self-assembly of Amphiphilic Linear Diblock Rod-Coil Molecules by Hydrogen Bond and π-π Stacking Interactions

Aromatic amphiphilic molecules（1） consisting of three biphenyl groups linked together with ether bonds as a rigid rod segment and poly（ethylene oxide） with the number of repeating units of 17 as a coil segment were synthesized, and their self-assembly behavior in the bulk state and aqueous solution was investigated. In bulk, molecules 1 self-assembled into 1-D lamellar structure in the solid state or smectic A phase in the liquid crystalline phase via the cooperative effects of ？-？ stacking, micro-phase separation and hydrogen bond interactions. In dilute aqueous solutions, molecules 1 were observed to selfassemble into cylindrical micelles owned uniform diameter and length of hundreds of nanometers.