Charge recombination mechanism to explain the negative capacitance in dye-sensitized solar cells**Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 11204209 and 60876035) and the Natural Science Foundation of Tianjin City, China (Grant No. 13JCZDJC32800).

Abstract

Negative capacitance (NC) in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) has been confirmed experimentally. In this work, the recombination behavior of carriers in DSC with semiconductor interface as a carrier’s transport layer is explored theoretically in detail. Analytical results indicate that the recombination behavior of carriers could contribute to the NC of DSCs under small signal perturbation. Using this recombination capacitance we propose a novel equivalent circuit to completely explain the negative terminal capacitance. Further analysis based on the recombination complex impedance show that the NC is inversely proportional to frequency. In addition, analytical recombination resistance is composed by the alternating current (AC) recombination resistance (Rrac) and the direct current (DC) recombination resistance (Rrdc), which are caused by small-signal perturbation and the DC bias voltage, respectively. Both of two parts will decrease with increasing bias voltage.