The purpose of this work is to present a complete drift-diffusion\ud
model for a dye solar cells (DSCs) and to correlate numerical simulation with\ud
experimental efficiency of the cell, stressing the influence of the active layer\ud
thickness. We focus on two fundamental microscopic parameters, namely, the\ud
electron diffusion coefficient and the recombination rate constant, which are\ud
extracted by a proper simulation fitting of the experimental IV curves of four\ud
different sets of DSCs. Both the conduction band model and the multiple\ud
trapping model are considered in the fitting procedure. We show that a given set\ud
of parameters is able to fit the behavior of the cell under different illumination\ud
conditions. Conversely, parameters need to be varied to fit IV curves of cells with\ud
different TiO2 thicknesses. The calculated effective diffusion length show a\ud
dependence on the working point and on the model used to simulate the cell.\ud
This work, moreover, gives a solid numerical ground for neglecting the\ud
electronic drift component of the current
The power conversion efficiency (eta) of a dye solar cell (DSC) with a 13 mu m thick TiO2 layer increases with solar AM1.5 light's angle of incidence by 10% at 55 degrees +/- 5 degrees and then decreases at higher angles due to Fresnel reflection at the front air/glass interface. For cells with thin TiO2 (3 mu m), the enhancement in eta is substantially larger (16%). We show, also through spectral quantum efficiency measurements, that the angular enhancement for thin cells is mainly due to optical path lengthening, quantifying the relevant parameters useful for photon management strategies and for understanding the productivity of DSC modules outdoors. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3663973
Since the introduction and development of the dye-sensitized solar cell (DSC) several efforts have been made to optimize the materials involved in the photo-electrochemical process and to improve the light conversion efficiency of the device , by exploiting a low cost production process based on simple fabrication methods, similar to those used in printing processes
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