Interplay between Dye Coverage and Photovoltaic Performances of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells Based on Organic Dyes

Abstract

A high dye coverage on the TiO2 surface diminishes dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) performances because of the significant degree of excited electron and hole recombination that results from the strong dye–dye intermolecular interactions. In this study, interplay between dye coverage and photovoltaic performances of DSSCs was systematically investigated and discussed using adsorption isotherms, photovoltaic measurements, and impedance analyses. Commercially available P25 and laboratory synthesized {010}-faceted TiO2 nanoparticles were used in mesoporous electrodes, and MK-2 organic dye was used as a sensitizer. Estimated adsorption constant (Kad) and maximum adsorption density (Qm) were 1.03 × 105 dm3/mol and 1.39 × 10–6 mol/m2 for P25 and 1.50 × 105 dm3/mol and 8.62 × 10–7 mol/m2 for {010}-faceted TiO2, respectively. The maximum TiO2 surface coverage of about 60% with {010}-faceted TiO2 and near 100% with P25 were observed in adsorption isotherms. I–V characteristics curves showed the continuous enhancement of open-circuit potential (Voc) with increasing coverage by confirming its high dependency on coverage. The P25 cell exhibited the maximum short-circuit photocurrent density (Jsc) at 84% of coverage which corresponded to the optimum coverage of MK-2 dye. At the optimum coverage the distance between dye molecules was estimated as 1.2 nm. Compared with P25, {010}-faceted TiO2 showed about 81% of Jsc and 75% of η enhancements although its maximum coverage (60%) was lower than the optimum coverage (84%). High performances of {010}-faceted TiO2 can be explained by the effective conversion of the irradiated light to photocurrent by strongly adsorbed dye molecules on the {010}-facet.