Evaluation of photovoltaic efficiency of dye‐sensitized solar cells fabricated with electrospun PVDF‐PAN‐Fe 2 O 3 composite membrane

Poly(vinylidene fluoride)‐polyacrylonitrile‐based membranes containing Fe 2 O 3 nanoparticles were prepared by electrospinning technique and characterized by HR‐SEM, FTIR, and XRD analysis. The effect of electrolyte in the electrospun nanofibers on electrolyte uptake, ionic conductivity and porosity were studied. The electrospun membranes containing Fe 2 O 3 showed an enhanced ionic conductivity than that of without Fe 2 O 3 . Among the prepared membranes, the membrane with 7 wt % Fe 2 O 3 has the highest liquid electrolyte uptake of 562% and ionic conductivity of 6.81 × 10 −2 S cm −1 . The photovoltaic performance for open circuit voltage ( V oc ), Short‐circuit current density ( J sc ), Fill factor (FF), and η of the DSSC fabricated with 7 wt % Fe 2 O 3 are 0.77 V, 10.4 mA/cm 2 , 0.62 and 4.9%, respectively. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014 , 131 , 41107.