Influence of the Built-in Voltage on the Fill Factor of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Abstract

Dye-sensitized solar cells with different front contact materials to the nanoporous TiO 2 layer are used to investigate the influence of the front contact barrier on the photovoltaic performance. The study uses devices that have SnO 2 :F, ZnO:Al, Al, or Au contacts underneath an amorphous TiO 2 blocking layer and the nanocrystalline TiO 2 . These devices are illuminated via the semitransparent platinum back contact. Variations of the front contact have no significant influence on the open circuit voltage of the devices. In contrast, the fill factors of the solar cells exhibit systematic differences. The experimental current/voltage curves are fitted to a simple model that uses two diodes, one corresponding to the front contact/TiO 2 interface and a second one for the TiO 2 /electrolyte interface.

Titanium Dioxide Nanomaterials: Basics and Design, Synthesis and Applications in Solar Energy Utilization Techniques

“…13b, the results indicate a positive shift of the flatband potential with the increasing of Nb content. Consequently, the driving force for electron injection, E fb -LUMO (the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital energy level) (Kron et al, 2003), is increased by the Nb doping, which correspondingly makes contribution to the enhancement of electron injection efficiency. Meanwhile, the open current potential (V oc ) of DSCs is dependent on the difference of the flat-band potential of TiO 2 and the redox potential of I -/I 3 -couple.…”

Band alignment of TiO2/FTO interface determined by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy: Effect of annealing

“…15 Especially the role of an electrostatic built-in field or a barrier at the FTO/TiO 2 interface has been an issue of great controversy. [16][17][18] Besides, TiO 2 /FTO heterojunction is also widely used to act as the electrode and electron transport layer (ETL) in perovskite hybrid solar cell, [19][20][21][22][23] a new type methylammonium lead halide (CH 3 NH 3 PbX 3 , X= halogen) solar cell with the rapid efficiency advance from 3.8% to 20.1%, in which TiO 2 /FTO is followed by perovskite absorber layer and hole transport layer. To date, rapid progress has been made on a Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.…”

Theoretical modelling of the electrode thickness effect on maximum power point of dye‐sensitized solar cell

“…Presently, DSSC can achieve as much as 10% energy conversion efficiency (Gratzel, 2001). The ongoing research and development focus on new DSSC materials for higher cell efficiency and theoretical modelling for insightful understanding of the basic working mechanisms (Ruile et al, 1997;Gratzel, 2000;Kron et al, 2002Kron et al, , 2003aKron et al, , 2003bRau et al, 2003;Durr et al, 2004;Fredin et al, 2005;Lenzmann et al, 2005;Gratzel, 2006;Ito et al, 2006;Kroon et al, 2006;Kumara et al, 2006;Ni et al, 2006a;Pettersson et al, 2006;Sastrawan et al, 2006). Some studies have been conducted to determine the effect of the TiO 2 electrode thickness on the DSSC performance.…”