Fabrication of a Dye Sensitized Solar Cell and Its Performance Dependence on Temperature and Irradiance
This paper reports the temperature and irradiance dependence of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) with acetonitrile-based electrolytes. The prototyped DSSCs had nanocrystalline titanium dioxide photoanodes and platinum thin film cathode. The photoanodes were sensitized with N-749 dye. The current-voltage characteristics of the DSSCs were measured at temperatures from 5 to 50 °C and under 500, 1000, and 1500 W m−2 irradiance. The open circuit voltage, VOC, decreased linearly with increasing temperature and had positive, logarithmic relation with irradiance. At temperatures lower than 15 °C, short circuit current density, JSC, was limited by the diffusion of I3− in the electrolyte and increased with increasing temperature. At higher temperatures the recombination of electrons injected into the TiO2 conduction band was dominant over diffusion and JSC decreased with increasing temperature. Moreover, JSC increaed linearly with increasing irradiance. The DSSC photoconversion efficiency did not vary appreciably at temperatures lower than 15 °C but decreased with increasing temperature. Finally, the efficiency increased with increasing irradiance.