scholarly journals Efficiency enhancement of natural dye sensitized solar cell by optimizing electrode fabrication parameters

2018 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 816-823 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Khalid Hossain ◽  
M.F. Pervez ◽  
S. Tayyaba ◽  
M. Jalal Uddin ◽  
A.A. Mortuza ◽  
...  

Abstract Efficiency of dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) depends on several interrelated factors such as type and concentration of dye, type and thickness of photoelectrode and counter electrode. Optimized combination of these factors leads to a more efficient cell. This paper presents the effect of these parameters on cell efficiency. TiO2 nanoporous thin films of different thicknesses (5 μm to 25 μm) were fabricated on indium doped tin oxide (ITO) coated glass by doctor blading method and characterized by inverted microscope, stylus surface profiler and scanning electron microscope (SEM). Natural organic dye of different concentrations, extracted from turmeric, was prepared with ethanol solvent. Different combinations of dye concentrations and film thicknesses along with different types of carbon catalyst have been investigated by I-V characterization. The result shows that the cell made of a counter electrode catalyst material prepared by candle flame carbon combined with about 15 μm thick photoelectrode and 100 mg/mL dye in ethanol solvent, achieves the highest efficiency of 0.45 %, with open circuit voltage of 566 mV and short circuit current density of 1.02 mA/cm2.

2015 ◽  
Vol 793 ◽  
pp. 450-454 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Gomesh ◽  
R. Syafinar ◽  
Muhamad Irwanto ◽  
Y.M. Irwan ◽  
M. Fareq ◽  
...  

Dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) consists of TiO2 nanoporous coating which acts as a photo electrode, a sensitizer of dye molecules soaked in the TiO2 film, liquid electrolyte and a counter electrode. This paper focuses on the usage of a sensitizer from the Pitaya fruit. Pitaya or commonly known as dragon fruit (Hylocereus polyrhizus) was extracted and used as a sensitizer to fabricate the dye sensitized solar cell (DSSC). The photoelectrochemical performance of Pitaya based solar cell shows an open circuit voltage (VOC) of 237 mV, short circuit current (ISC) of 4.98 mA, fill factor (FF) of 0.51, solar cell efficiency (η) of 0.70 % and has a peak absorbance rate of 2.7 at 550 nm. The photoelectrochemical and UV-Visible light absorbance performance of Pitaya-DSSC shows good potential in future solar cell fabrication.


2020 ◽  
Vol 71 (7) ◽  
pp. 789-801
Author(s):  
T.O. Ahmed ◽  
O.O. Ogunleye ◽  
A.Y. Abdulrahaman ◽  
N. Alu

We report the successful application of reduced graphene oxide–titania (rGO–TiO2) nanocomposite as an efficient photoelectrode and an inexpensive polyaniline (PANI) synthesized by in-situ polymerization on graphite foam as a platinum substitute for tri-iodide reduction for dye‐sensitized solar cell (DSC). The bulk carrier concentration and conductivity of the PANI was measured to be 3.02x1017cm-3 and 4.89x10-1 W-1cm-1 respectively. Subsequently, three DSCs were assembled with rGO–TiO2 nanocomposite photoelectrode and PANI as counter electrode for one and the other two assembled using unmodified TiO2 photoelectrode with PANI and platinum as counter electrodes, respectively. The rGO loading allows more dye to be adsorbed due its large surface area thus improving the light harvesting efficiency (LHE). This improvement in LHE increases the short circuit current density (JSC). The JSC increase is more substantial compared to the reduction in VOC; thus, the increase in the efficiency of the cell with rGO-TiO2 nanocomposite electrode. The short circuit current density for the rGO-TiO2 DSC with PANI counter electrode is 0.45mAcm-2 while that for the unmodified TiO2 DSCs with PANI counter electrode and platinum counter electrode are 0.11mAcm-2 and 0.10 mAcm-2 respectively. This corresponds to 76% increase in the current density and it increases collection rate at the photoelectrode leading to enhanced power conversion efficiency of 0.13% compared with 0.04% and 0.02% for the DSCs assembled with unmodified TiO2 under full sunlight illumination (100 mW/cm2, AM 1.5G) as a result of the better charge collection efficiency of rGO, which reduces the back electron transfer process. This represent 69% enhancement of energy conversion efficiency in the DSC consisting of rGO modified TiO2


2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hafeez Yusuf Hafeez ◽  
Bala Ismail Adam

In this analytical approach we fabricate and characterized a Titanium Dioxide Dye sensitized solar cell using Doctor-Blade Technique. The samples were given annealing treatment at various time of 20, 30 and 40 minutes respectivelyat constant annealing temperature of 450oC. The device under test (DUT) were tested using a Kiethley 2400, source meter under A.M 1.5 (1000W/m2) illumination from a Newport class A solar simulator.The results shows that at the miscellaneous annealing time, the open circuit voltagesVoc= 0.28V, 0.30V and 0.29V, the short circuit current density Jsc=95.5µAcm-2 , 104.1µAcm-2and 105µAcm-2, the fill factor FF= 0.411, 0.448 and 0.525 and the energy conversion efficiency, η = 0.011, 0.014 and 0.016 respectively.With best results of open circuit voltage Voc=0.30, short circuit current density Jsc= 105mAcm-2, fill factor FF= 0.525 and energy conversion efficiency η= 0.016 was achieved.It was observed that the power density, Fill Factor and efficiency increases with increasewith increase in annealing time.


2020 ◽  
Vol 71 (7) ◽  
pp. 789-801
Author(s):  
T.O. Ahmed ◽  
O.O. Ogunleye ◽  
A.Y. Abdulrahaman ◽  
N. Alu

We report the successful application of reduced graphene oxide–titania (rGO–TiO2) nanocomposite as an efficient photoelectrode and an inexpensive polyaniline (PANI) synthesized by in-situ polymerization on graphite foam as a platinum substitute for tri-iodide reduction for dye‐sensitized solar cell (DSC). The bulk carrier concentration and conductivity of the PANI was measured to be 3.02x1017cm-3 and 4.89x10-1 W-1cm-1 respectively. Subsequently, three DSCs were assembled with rGO–TiO2 nanocomposite photoelectrode and PANI as counter electrode for one and the other two assembled using unmodified TiO2 photoelectrode with PANI and platinum as counter electrodes, respectively. The rGO loading allows more dye to be adsorbed due its large surface area thus improving the light harvesting efficiency (LHE). This improvement in LHE increases the short circuit current density (JSC). The JSC increase is more substantial compared to the reduction in VOC; thus, the increase in the efficiency of the cell with rGO-TiO2 nanocomposite electrode. The short circuit current density for the rGO-TiO2 DSC with PANI counter electrode is 0.45mAcm-2 while that for the unmodified TiO2 DSCs with PANI counter electrode and platinum counter electrode are 0.11mAcm-2 and 0.10 mAcm-2 respectively. This corresponds to 76% increase in the current density and it increases collection rate at the photoelectrode leading to enhanced power conversion efficiency of 0.13% compared with 0.04% and 0.02% for the DSCs assembled with unmodified TiO2 under full sunlight illumination (100 mW/cm2, AM 1.5G) as a result of the better charge collection efficiency of rGO, which reduces the back electron transfer process. This represent 69% enhancement of energy conversion efficiency in the DSC consisting of rGO modified TiO2


2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Klitsada Moolsarn ◽  
Apishok Tangtrakarn ◽  
Adulphan Pimsawat ◽  
Kornrawit Duangsa ◽  
Charusporn Mongkolkachit ◽  
...  

Carbon derived from hair is interesting because it has good electrocatalytic activity due to the existence of innate heteroatom dopants especially nitrogen and sulfur. In this study, a carbon catalyst containing high nitrogen contents (9.47 at.%) was fabricated without using any harsh chemicals. Moreover, the carbonization temperature was only 700°C. Carbonized hair/PEDOT:PSS composites (CxP) with varied carbon contents from x = 0.2 to 0.8 g were tested as a counter electrode (CE) for a dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC). This type of DSSC CE has scarcely been investigated. A DSSC with a C0.6P CE provides the best efficiency (6.54 ± 0.11%) among all composite CEs because it has a high fill factor (FF) and a high short-circuit current density (Jsc). The efficiency of DSSC with C0.6P CE is lower than Pt’s (7.29 ± 0.01%) since the Pt-based DSSC has higher FF and Jsc values. However, C0.6P is still promising as a DSSC CE since it is more cost-effective than Pt.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (6) ◽  
pp. 1684
Author(s):  
Alessandro Romeo ◽  
Elisa Artegiani

CdTe is a very robust and chemically stable material and for this reason its related solar cell thin film photovoltaic technology is now the only thin film technology in the first 10 top producers in the world. CdTe has an optimum band gap for the Schockley-Queisser limit and could deliver very high efficiencies as single junction device of more than 32%, with an open circuit voltage of 1 V and a short circuit current density exceeding 30 mA/cm2. CdTe solar cells were introduced at the beginning of the 70s and they have been studied and implemented particularly in the last 30 years. The strong improvement in efficiency in the last 5 years was obtained by a new redesign of the CdTe solar cell device reaching a single solar cell efficiency of 22.1% and a module efficiency of 19%. In this paper we describe the fabrication process following the history of the solar cell as it was developed in the early years up to the latest development and changes. Moreover the paper also presents future possible alternative absorbers and discusses the only apparently controversial environmental impacts of this fantastic technology.


2011 ◽  
Vol 415-417 ◽  
pp. 1586-1589
Author(s):  
Yu Hua Dai ◽  
Xiao Lei Sun ◽  
Jing Lian Wang ◽  
Ming Shan Yang

A series of copolymers P(VP-HEMA) composed of hydroxyl ethyl methacrylate (HEMA) and 4-vinyl pyridine (VP) were prepared by a solution copolymerization technique. Based on the copolymer P(VP-HEMA) prepared by the content of VP 50%, the amount of AIBN 3% and the optimized liquid electrolyte, a polymer solution electrolyte with concentration of 9.0% was formed. By addition of 1,4-dibromobutane into the solution, the copolymer gel electrolyte with higher conductivity 6.14mS/cm was prepared. Gelation is caused by the quaterisation between the group of pyridine in P(HEMA-VP) and 1,4-dibromobutane. Based on the copolymer gel electrolyte, a dye-sensitized solar cell was fabricated with short-circuit current of 13.62mA/cm2,open circuit voltage of 0.72V, fill factor of 0.5465 and an overall conversion efficiency of 5.24% under irradiation 100mW/cm2(AM1.5).


2014 ◽  
Vol 1070-1072 ◽  
pp. 616-619
Author(s):  
Wen Bo Xiao ◽  
Jin Dai ◽  
Guo Hua Tu ◽  
Hua Ming Wu

The dye-sensitized solar cell performances influenced by radiant intensity and illuminated area in concentrating photovoltaic system are investigated experimentally and discussed theoretically. The results show that, under the same irradiated cells area, the short-circuit current is linearly increasing with the radiant intensity and the open-circuit voltage follows a logarithmic function of the radiant intensity. And, it is turned out that the short-circuit current and open-circuit voltage are obviously enhanced by increasing the illuminated cells surface area at the same radiant intensity. However, that growth trends will decline with an increase of the illuminated area. The reason is more defects involved in the process of increasing illumination area. All results can be interpreted using an equivalent circuit of a single diode model. A good agreement can be observed from the fitting curves. It is of great significance for current photovoltaic research.


2012 ◽  
Vol 1442 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chung-Te Liu ◽  
Ying-Chiao Wang ◽  
Rui-Xuan Dong ◽  
Kuo-Chuan Ho ◽  
Jiang-Jen Lin

ABSTRACTA novel polymer dispersant, poly(oxyethylene)-segment imide (POEM) in the structure was incorporated in the nanocrystalline TiO2 film as the electrode. The uses of the dispersants could disperse TiO2 by decreasing the van der waals force among the nanoparticles, observed by TEM. The resultant TiO2/POEM film as the photoanode rendered the dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) with enhanced performance. By comparing to the traditional photoanode composing of polyethylene glycol (PEG) dispersed TiO2, the POEM dispersed TiO2 provided large surface area and high roughness in the dye adsorbed film. Furthermore, the fabricated TiO2/POEM photoanode has a better light-scattering property which contributes to the improvement for the short-circuit current density (Jsc) and the power-conversion efficiency (_) of the DSSC to be 19.1 mA cm-2 and 8.7%, respectively. The performance is superior to 13.2 mA cm-2 and 7.34% for a DSSC with the photoanode containing TiO2/PEG.


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