Reaching stability at DSSCs with new type gel electrolytes

[Display omitted] •New gels were synthesized and used to solve the liquid electrolyte problem in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs).•The gel electrolytes used DSSCs showed stable performance for 3600 h.•Ionic doping, such as F, Br, Cl, and aniline to poly(AMPS-IA) improves the electrical and stability performance of DSSCs. Stability is a significant problem for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) and if the problem cannot be surmounted, commercialization of DSSCs will not be possible. This work aims to show and solve the main reason for DSSCs’ stability problem. It is known that natural dyes are degradable; thus, a natural dye was used as a sensitizer to obtain the worst conditions for preparing DSSCs. The produced DSSCs were tested for 3 600 h and stability was achieved with the use of newly produced gels. The six newly produced gels were synthesized and seven DSSCs were produced. One of the DSSCs was prepared with a standard liquid electrolyte while the others were prepared with a liquid electrolyte adsorbed into poly(2-acrylamide-2-methylpropane sulfonic acid/itaconic acid/N,N'-methylenebisacrylamide) (poly(AMPS-co-IA)) hydrogel and its fluorine, bromine, chlorine, and aniline doped derivatives. The DSSCs prepared with the hydrogel based-electrolytes showed stable and improved electrical characteristics for 3 600 h while the DSSC prepared with the liquid electrolyte’s performance got weaker from day to day and was wholly finished at 3 240 h.