Parametric Optimization of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells Using Far red Sensitizing Dye with Cobalt Electrolyte

摘要

A far-red sensitizing dye SQ-75 has been employed as a model sensitizer with Co(bpy)2+/3+ redox electrolytes to fabricate dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) and optimize the various device parameters which influence the overall photoconversion efficiency (PCE). It has been found that the optimization of the TiO2 thickness, surface treatment with TiCl4, and an optimum amount of the chenodeoxycholic acid (CDCA) as coadsorber are necessary to attain the overall improved PCE. TiCl4 surface treatment on both FTO and TiO2 has been found to outperform as compared to their untreated counterparts owing to the suppression of the charge recombination. DSSCs with an optimized TiO2 thickness of 6 μm and CDCA concentration of 4 mM have exhibited best performance due to enhanced photon harvesting and reduced dye aggregation, respectively.