TCO-less DSSC using cobalt electrolyte in a novel device structure is proposed. Dye surface passivation of TiO2 nanoparticle (TN) spacer boosts bulky Co3+ ion diffusion. Dramatic enhancement in DSSC performance for dye surface passivated TN spacer.
Thin Ti-metal protected stainless steel metal mesh coated with mesoporous TiO2 as flexible photoanode has been used to fabricate back contact transparent conductive oxide-less dye-sensitized solar cells. TiO2 nanoparticle having a particle size of 15–20 nm
sensitized with dye cocktail of two indoline dyes D-205 and D-131 were first utilized owing to their complementary light harvesting properties. Short-circuit photocurrent density (Jsc) for the dye cocktail combination of D-205 and D-131 (1:1) was found to be increased due
to the increased photon harvesting in the 400–500 nm mainly associated with the contribution from D-131 dye. In addition, the electron recombination was suppressed when dye cocktail was employed as confirmed by the dark current measurement leading to higher open-circuit voltage (Voc).
The enhanced Jsc accompanied with increased Voc resulted in to an improved efficiency of 3.59% for this cocktail combination. To enhance the efficiency even further, we have utilized TiO2 nanoparticle having a larger particle size of 30 nm facilitating
the mass transport of the bulky [Co(bpy)3]3+/2+ redox species. In order to enhance the photon harvesting window TiO2 nanoparticles were sensitized with porphyrin dye (YD2-o-C8) along with different dye cocktail combinations with another complementary dye (Y123).
Utilization of a dye cocktail of YD2-o-C8 and Y123 (4:1) led to improved photoconversion efficiency of 5.25% under simulated solar irradiation.
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