Photovoltaic Performance of TiO2 Mesoporous Films with Different Working Areas for Dye-sensitized Solar Cell Nasikhudin1, Nadiya Ayu Astarini1, Muhamad Fadhil Rahman1, Aripriharta1, Zurina Osman3, and Markus Diantoro1,2,a
1Departement of Physics, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Universitas Negeri Malang, Jl. Semarang No. 5 Malang 651145
2Center of Advanced Materials for Renewable Energy, Universitas Negeri Malang, Jl. Semarang No. 5 Malang 651145
3Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, W. Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Abstract
The enhancement of performance efficiency in Dye-sensitized Solar Cells (DSSC) could be optimized through the working area of the mesoporous TiO2 photoanode. A small working area will increase the photovoltage and power conversion efficiency. In comparison, a large working area will increase the recombination rate and slow down the photon particle transport rate at the photoanode. The TiO2 photoanode layer consists of a blocking layer deposited using a spin coating technique. While the mesoporous paste was deposited by screen printing method with three variations working areas (0.25, 0.30, and 0.56 cm2). The samples were characterized using XRD, SEM-EDX, UV-Vis spectroscopy, and solar simulator. XRD characterization confirmed that the TiO2 photoanode had an anatase phase. Based on SEM analysis, it is known that mesoporous TiO2 has a large surface area indicated by a porosity level of 70%. The elemental analysis of TiO2 were confirmed by EDX characterization that shows the presence of Ti and O peaks. The absorption spetra of the mesoporous TiO2 photoanode which has been soaked in 0.07 mM N719 dye solution has absorbance for wavelengths in the ultraviolet to the visible light range . In this work, the J-V characterization shows that for cell with a working electrode area of 0.25 cm2 exhibits promising power conversion efficiency up to 2.5% and circuit current density of 14 mA cm-2 under an illumination light of 100 mW/cm2.
Keywords: Dye-sensitized solar cell, TiO2 mesoporous, working area, efficiency
