INVESTIGATION OF THE EFFECT OF TYPE AND CONCENTRATION OF DYE ON THE PERFORMANCE OF TiO2 BASED DYE SENSITIZED SOLAR CELLS

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 University Buildings, Building B, Ard Sultan, Taha Housein Street, Apartment 39 Minia

2 Technical Research Lab

3 Technical Research Lab.

Abstract

Dye Sensitized Solar Cells (DSSCs) have been paid much attention due to its low cost and high efficiency. In this work, high-performance dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) made of a combination of TiO2 nanoparticle and dye were fabricated and tested. Three types of Ruthenium dyes; N3, N719 and N749 Black Dye were used. Three concentrations of each dye; 30, 40 and 50% were tested. Under optimized conditions, the solar energy conversion efficiencies were measured. The short-circuit current density (JSC), the open-circuit voltage (VOC), the fill factor (FF), and the overall efficiency (η) of the DSSCs are measured. Results indicated that N3 dye resulted in the most efficient DSSC. When working in the voltage range 0 - 0.577V, values of the resulting current were 5.711, 4.836 and 3.965 mA for N3, N719 and N749 Black Dye, respectively. These values of current remained constant with increasing voltage till voltage values of 0.436, 0.4 and 0.47V; for the three dyes, respectively. This means that higher current is obtained from N3 dye followed by N719 dye and finally by Black Dye. The values of the maximum power obtained were 2.223, 1.832 and 1.748 mW for N3, N719 and Black Dye, respectively. The efficiency of the TiO2 cells was 5.56, 4.58 and 4.37% when using N3, N719 and N749 Black Dye, respectively. Experimentation on different dye concentrations showed that N3 dye with concentration 50% gives the best performance for DSSC with FF value of 79.21 and photo conversion efficiency of 6.002%.

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