Suneyana Rawat, Pramod K. Singh, Markus Diantoro, Serguei V. Savilov, Ekaterina A. Arkhipova, Ram Chandra Singh
As the energy landscape evolves towards hybrid, multifunctional, and sustainable devices, the shortage of innovative, highly efficient, and versatile electrolytes becomes increasingly crucial. This research presents a new class of ionic liquids: a trihexyl(tetradecyl)phosphonium dicyanamide (PBIL)-infused polyethylene oxide (PEO) polymer electrolyte, tailored for dual electrochemical conversion and storage devices. The synthesized electrolytes exhibit a remarkable interplay of ionic conductivity, electrochemical stability, and interfacial compatibility, which together form a unified framework, confirmed by various characterization techniques such as XRD, FTIR, DSC, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, etc. Through meticulous tuning of the polymer electrolyte, we highlight enhanced ion transport efficiency, wider electrochemical windows, and robust stability characteristics, thanks to the unique structural advantage of the phosphonium ionic liquid. The ionic liquid interacts with the polymer matrix, creating efficient ion transport channels that significantly improve the ionic conductivity of 5.40 × 10−4 S/cm at room temperature. Both the dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) and the electric double-layer capacitor (EDLC) feature significant improvements in photoconversion efficiency and specific capacitances, thanks to the superior conductivity and structural stability provided by the ionic liquid-doped polymer electrolyte. This multifaceted functionality suggests that the polymer electrolyte can be adapted to different operating environments, enhancing its applicability in diverse technological frameworks. © 2026 Elsevier B.V.
Centre of Excellence in Solar Cells and Renewable Energy, Dept. of Physics and Env. Sci., SSES, Sharda University, Greater Noida, 201310, India; Department of Physics, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Science, Universitas Negeri, Malang, Semarang 5, Malang, 65145, Indonesia; Department of Chemistry, Lomonosov Moscow State University, 1-3 Lenniskiye Gory, Moscow, 119991, Russian Federation
