Comparative analysis of physical organic and inorganic Dyesensitized solar cell

Abstract

Dye-sensitized Solar Cells (DSSCs) are suitable alternatives for the conventional silicon based solar cells because of their low cost of production, ease of availability of raw materials required for production. In this study a comparative physical performance analysis has been done on three such dye-sensitized solar cells having three different dyes: Red Colloid Dye (Fe (OH)3 + FeCl3 [Fe(OH)3] Fe3+), Prussian blue {KFe3[Fe2(CN)6]} and Green Dye from Chlorophyll (C55H72O5N4Mg) extracted from spinach leaves. In this experiment the preparation of red dye and its use in the solar cell in the form of colloid small particles is unique and noble. The substrates used for deposition of semiconductor film and making of counter electrodes were Indium doped Tin-Oxide (ITO) glass having a surface resistance of 30 Ω/cm2. Titanium di-oxide (TiO2) is used because of wide band-gap semiconductor material for providing the charge transport. Counter electrodes with carbon coating have been used in this work. A redox iodide electrolyte solution has been used as the electron mediator or replenishes dyes or sensitizers. After performing the electrical characterization, fill-factors having values of 40.65%, 69.55% and 25.83% were calculated for the DSSCs with red, blue and green dyes, respectively. The Dyesensitized Solar cell with Prussian blue as the sensitizer showed the best electrical performance with respect to other two Dyesensitized Solar cells and previously published authors' solar cells with same colour of dye.