Effect of precipitating agents on the performance of ZnO nanoparticles based photo-anodes in dye-sensitized solar cells

Abstract

Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell (DSSC), as a unique non-conventional energy system, is rapidly gaining more attention from researchers. Efforts to fabricate photovoltaic devices with high conversion efficiencies at low cost with a simple fabrication process have prompted researchers to continuously work on different components of DSSC. This research focuses on the effect of precipitating agents, sodium hydroxide, and ammonium hydroxide on the fabrication of ZnO-based DSSCs. ZnO nanoparticles were prepared and characterized based on structural and microstructural analyses, UV-absorption and reflectance spectroscopy, and FTIR analysis, as one of the potential semiconductor photo-anodes for DSSCs. The uniformly prepared films using the doctor blade technique were soaked in Ruthenizer 535-bisTBA dye solutions for sensitization. The films were assembled and current-density characteristics measurements were taken using a solar simulator at 100 mW/cm2 and 25 °C. The effect of precipitating agents on the performance of the fabricated DSSC was studied. Photovoltaic performance evaluation of DSSCs using N719 dye as a sensitizer revealed that the open-circuit voltage (VOC) ranged between 0.535 and 0.719 V, and the short-circuit photocurrent density (JSC) was in the range of 3.621 to 5.875 mAcm−2. The highest conversion efficiency of 2.43 % was recorded for the synthesized ZnO semiconductor photo-anode using NaOH as the precipitating agent.