Fundamental Understanding of Dye Coverage and Performance in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells Using Copper Electrolyte

Sourava Chandra Pradhan, Jayadev Velore, Sruthi Meledath Meethal and Suraj Soman ()
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Sourava Chandra Pradhan: Centre for Sustainable Energy Technologies (C-SET), CSIR-National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology (CSIR-NIIST), Thiruvananthapuram 695019, India
Jayadev Velore: Centre for Sustainable Energy Technologies (C-SET), CSIR-National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology (CSIR-NIIST), Thiruvananthapuram 695019, India
Sruthi Meledath Meethal: Centre for Sustainable Energy Technologies (C-SET), CSIR-National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology (CSIR-NIIST), Thiruvananthapuram 695019, India
Suraj Soman: Centre for Sustainable Energy Technologies (C-SET), CSIR-National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology (CSIR-NIIST), Thiruvananthapuram 695019, India

Energies, 2023, vol. 16, issue 19, 1-14

Abstract: Dyes have played a pivotal role in the advancement of modern dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs), as they not only facilitate light harvesting, but also serve as blocking layers to impede recombination. In this study, we conducted a systematic investigation to elucidate the influence of dye coverage on the photovoltaic parameters of copper-electrolyte-based DSCs by precisely controlling the dye coverage on the TiO 2 substrate using D35 organic dye solutions with varying concentrations. The dye loading increased proportionally with the increase in dye concentrations until it reached saturation at a concentration of 0.2 mM. However, an optimal dye concentration of 0.1 mM was determined in terms of achieving the highest photovoltaic performance, under both outdoor and indoor light conditions. Notably, a maximum power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 6.50 ± 0.25% under outdoor illumination (100 mW/cm 2 ) and 10.48 ± 0.30% under indoor light (1000 lux, WW CFL) was attained using a 0.1 mM D35 dye concentration. Additionally, the dark current and ideality factor (m) were found to be minimized at the 0.1 mM dye concentration. Furthermore, the ideality factor (m) exhibited disparities between indoor and outdoor light conditions. The lifetime obtained from electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measurements correlated well with the ideality factor (m) and dark current. Notably, electron injection, dye regeneration, charge collection, and ion diffusion were observed to be independent of the dye coverage.

Keywords: copper electrolyte; dye; DSC; indoor photovoltaics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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