Gellan gum/PEDOT:PSS gel electrolyte and application on quasi-solid dye sensitized solar cells

[Display omitted] •Innovative GG-based quasi-solid state DSSC have been successfully prepared.•Sandwich type DSSC was successfully fabricated with electrolyte adsorbed semi-solid electrolyte.•After adding PEDOT:PSS, the solar conversion efficiency of the new solar cell was achieved at 1.89%.•It has been observed that semi-solid DSSCs with increased efficiency are promising in flexible solar cell applications. GG/PEDOT:PSS (Gellan gum/poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate) based gel electrolytes were prepared and characterized via FESEM, EDS, XRD, Raman, FTIR, and thermogravimetric analysis. In addition, these hydrogels were immersed in I-/I3- based liquid electrolytes and used as gel electrolytes for Quasi-solid-state Dye Sensitized Solar Cells (QS-DSSC). QS-DSSCs that used prepared hydrogel electrolytes were characterized with Linear Sweep Voltammetry and Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy for obtaining important photoelectrochemical parameters such as VOC, JSC, FF, light conversion efficiency (η), and charge transfer properties within the cell. Also, in this study, the thickness effect of hydrogel electrolytes was investigated. It was observed that with increased thickness, efficiency decreased because of the recombination reactions. 2.01% efficiency was obtained for QS-DSSCs with thin-layered gel electrolyte.