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Abstract
In this study, the P25 titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticle (NP) thin film was coated on the fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) glass substrate by a doctor blade method. The film then compressed mechanically to be the photoanode of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Various compression pressures on TiO2 NP film were tested to optimize the performance of DSSCs. The mechanical compression reduces TiO2 inter-particle distance improving the electron transport efficiency. The UV–vis spectrophotometer and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) were employed to quantify the light-harvesting efficiency and the charge transport impedance at various interfaces in DSSC, respectively. The incident photon-to-current conversion efficiency was also monitored. The results show that when the DSSC fabricated by the TiO2 NP thin film compressed at pressure of 279 kg/cm2, the minimum resistance of 9.38 Ω at dye/TiO2 NP/electrolyte interfaces, the maximum short-circuit photocurrent density of 15.11 mA/cm2, and the photoelectric conversion efficiency of 5.94% were observed. Compared to the DSSC fabricated by the non-compression of TiO2 NP thin film, the overall conversion efficiency is improved over 19.5%. The study proves that under suitable compression pressure the performance of DSSC can be optimized.
Highlights
In recent years, most of the solar cells are fabricated on Si-based substrate [1] which is flat and rigid; several good substitutes have been discovered to replace Si-based substrates for applications in flexible solar panels
In this study, the compression of Titanium dioxide (TiO2) NP thin film was tested to investigate the effect of film density
The results indicate that the performance of Dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) is compromised among the increase of optical absorption, the reduction of recombination rate, and the improvement of effective carrier transport
Summary
Most of the solar cells are fabricated on Si-based substrate [1] which is flat and rigid; several good substitutes have been discovered to replace Si-based substrates for applications in flexible solar panels. Dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) is one of alternatives as it can be built on flexible substrate with low cost and light weight [2,3,4]. Grätzel and his colleagues published the first DSSC in 1992 [2]. They adopted nanoporous titanium dioxide (TiO2) as photoanode, metal ruthenium (Ru) organic complexes as dyes, and I2/I3− redox couple as electrolyte. Since improving the performance of dye-sensitized solar cell has been the primary goal of researchers
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