Comparative Study of Eosin-Y and Rose Bengal Sensitized SnO2-ZnO Composite Electrode for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell

Abstract

In the present study, Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells (DSSCs) were fabricated using SnO 2 (Tin Oxide)-ZnO (Zinc Oxide) composite photoanodes. The mesoporous SnO 2 -ZnO composite photoanode was made by a doctor blade technique from SnO 2 and ZnO nanostructures. The prepared films of SnO 2 -ZnO composite were characterized with UV-Visible spectroscopy to compare the band gap of composite material with pure SnO 2 and pure ZnO. The prepared photoanodes were sensitized with Eosin-Y (EY) and Rose Bengal (RB) Photosensitizers. The photovoltaic performance of DSSC based on the SnO 2 -ZnO composite photoanodes was comparatively studied with EY and RB Photosensitizers. A photoconversion efficiency of about 0.09% and 0.17% were achieved for EY and RB sensitized DSSCs. RB sensitized DSSC shows the highest photoconversion efficiency compared to EY sensitized DSSC. The RB sensitized SnO2-ZnO composite based DSSC shows nearly 53% greater efficiency than EY sensitized SnO2-ZnO composite based DSSC.