Organic Dyes in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells Featuring Back Reflector

• Main Authors: Agata Zdyb, Ewelina Krawczak
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-09-01
• Series: Energies
• Subjects: dye-sensitized solar cell; DSSC; organic dye; back reflector; light trapping; enediol group
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/17/5529

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) were fabricated using a photoelectrode covered by a porous layer of titanium dioxide, platinum counter electrode, iodide/triiodide electrolyte and three different dyes: phenylfluorone (PF), pyrocatechol violet (PCV) and alizarin (AL). After the adsorption of the dyes on the mesoporous TiO₂ layer, the measurement of absorption spectra of all the tested dyes revealed a significant broadening of the absorption range. The positions of highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) and lowest occupied molecular orbital (LUMO) levels of dye molecules were determined, indicating that all three dyes are good candidates for light harvesters in DSSCs. The cells were tested under simulated solar light, and their working parameters were determined. The results showed that the implementation of the back reflector layer made of BaSO₄ provided an improvement in the cell efficiency of up to 17.9% for phenylfluorone, 60% for pyrocatechol violet and 21.4% for alizarin dye.