Photovoltaic Performance Analysis of Dye Sensitized Solar Cell Based on Nanostructured TiO2 Photoanode

Abstract

Swiftest industrialization and increasing human population demand energy to fulfil the needs. Fossil fuels are generally used to attain energy needs, but they are not eco-friendly and cannot be relied on the long run. So, one of the alternatives is to avail energy from renewable energy resources. Energy from the sun to earth is sufficient to cover energy needs for a whole year. Photovoltaic devices work on photovoltaic effect where sunlight (photons) is used to generate electrical energy. Amongst various photovoltaic devices, dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) plays a major role in past decades. So, we made an effort to study the detailed investigation on working electrode (WE) and counter electrode (CE) - based DSSC devices, which are the scope of this thesis work. The important factors influencing the high photoelectric conversion efficiency of DSSCs are the light-harvesting ability of the sensitizer, the excited electrons from the dye to the photoanode (depending on the efficient chemical conjugation between the semiconductor material and dye molecule), and the electron transfer through photoanode material. So, the photoanode material plays an imperative role in DSSC. The different morphologies of TiO2 photoanode material have a major impact on device performance. This research work starts with a fabrication of one-dimensional nanostructured TiO2 with a unidirectional charge transport pathway; three-dimensional hierarchical flower-like nanostructures were obtained by microwave method. High surface area of TiO2 with cuboidal shapes were synthesized by single-step hydrothermal method. And, to overcome the drawback of the TiCl4 electron transporting layer, we prepared different concentrations of SnO2 electron transporting layer with high electron mobility. newlineAdditionally, we aimed to replace the standard platinum counter electrode with an efficient and cost-effective Pt-free CE in DSSC.