INSTITUTE OF ENERGY

Fabrication and Characterization of Dye Sensitized Solar Cell (DSSC) Using Some Natural Dyes

Supervised by: Presented by:

MD. ASHRAFUZZAMAN
Dr. Ishtiaque M. Syed
IE, DU
Associate Professor
Reg. No.: HA-297
Department of Physics
Exam Roll: 102
University of Dhaka.
University of Dhaka
 Introduction
• With increasing human population and energy consumption;
it is obvious that we need to find alternative sources of
energy.
• Renewable energy sources such as solar energy are
considered as a feasible alternative because
“More energy from sunlight strikes Earth in 1 hour
than all of the energy consumed by humans in an
entire year.”(Lewis, 2007).

• Solar energy is inexhaustible and free, at least for the next

few billion years!!
 What is DSSC?
 A solar cell is an electrical device that converts the solar energy into
electrical energy.
 Dye Sensitized Solar cell (DSSC) is a promising photovoltaic device
where dye plays a key role for capturing the sun light

Dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) is the third

generation of solar cell which has been
developed by O’Regan and Gratzel in 1991

Gratzel
 DSSC
• Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC) have drawn widespread
attention in recent years because of their low production costs,
ease of fabrication and tunable optical properties

• The principle of power generation of DSSC is very similar to

that of photosynthesis of plants.

• A DSSC dye takes solar energy and converts it into electrical

energy.

• DSSC often referred to as artificial photosynthesis.

 Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell Components
Sensitizing Dye Titania Nanoparticles
Electrolyte

FTO glass 100 nm TiO2 nano-particles

 Working Principle of DSSC
 Dye electrons are excited by

absorption of solar energy .

 Then they are injected into the

conduction band of TiO2.

 The electron passes from the

semiconductor (TiO2)to the

electrode and creates a current

that drives the work for the system.

 DSSC Working Scheme

e-
e- e-
e- LUMO

Transparent Electrode
e-

Counter Electrode
hv I / I3-
-

e-

HOMO

ee--
Dye Sensitizer

TiO2
e - e-
e-
e-

*Courtesy Ivanova.E, et. Al.

 Sample Preparation
Preparation of TiO2 coated slide:
o At first TiO2 paste was made by 9 ml vinegar is added to 6 g titanium dioxide and
then added one drop of detergent.

o We took one piece of FTO glass plate and then put 0.04mm thickness scotch tape on two
sides of the conducting side of FTO glass. Then we have used a small paintbrush to
distribute a thin layer of the TiO2 solution across the conducting surface of the FTO glass .
Then we allowed the slide to dry for a few minutes, then the slide placed on a hotplate
at 150C for around 10 minutes.
 Preparation of dye

“Lal Shak” (Amaranthes gangetius)

“Sheuli Full” (Nyctanthes arbor-tristis)

 Sample Preparation
Preparation of Iodide Electrolyte Solution:
• We have dissolved 0.127 g Iodine in 10 ml of ethylene
glycol. Next added 0.83 g Potassium Iodide (KI).
Preparation of counter electrode:
• As a counter electrode we have used Platinum coating
on a FTO glass surface.
Sensitizing with dye:
• We have put a drop of dye on top of the previously
prepared TiO2 coated substrates and allowed it to dry for
a day
 Assembly of the Solar Cell
• We have put 0.181mm thickness scotch tape on two sides of
dye sensitized TiO2 coated slide. We then placed the counter
electrode slide faced down on the previous slide and to hold
the two slides together we have used two binder clips. Then
we put one to two drops of liquid iodide/tri-iodine
electrolyte solution to the space between the two slides.
 Photocurrent Measurement:
Light from a 500 watt halogen bulb is used as a light source and the sample cells were 20
cm away from the light source for I-V measurements for all the cells discussed in this
thesis.

Measurement of I-V characteristics

At first the load resistance was fixed at the maximum value and the corresponding
voltage was recorded. Then the resistance was decreased gradually and the
corresponding voltages was recorded.
The photocurrent was calculated for each recorded data using Ohm’s law.
I=V/R
Also the power for each load resistance was calculated using the following formula.
P=VxI
 Results and Discussions

Figure: P-V curve for two cells

Figure: I-V curve for two cells
Data for Short circuit current, Open Circuit Voltage, Maximum Power
 Results & Discussions

Fig: Absorbance of “Lal Shak” & “Sheuly Full” Fig: Halogen spectrum

To find an explanation of the above behavior we took absorption spectra of the

two dyes used in our study the spectra showed that even the halogen bulb that
we have used does not produce any light in the 200 to 500 nm range, dyes has
an appreciable absorbance from 200 to 530 nm. That is the main reason for
lower power produced by the cell using dye extracted from both dyes.
Applications of DSSC
(a) 200 m2 of DSSC panels
installed in Newcastle
(Australia)– the first
commercial DSSC module
(b) indoor ornament of
dye sensitized solar cells
leaves (AISIN SEIKI
CO.,LTD),
(c) flexible DSSC-based
solar module developed
by Dyesol
(http://www.dyesol.com),
and
(d) jacket commercialized
by G24i
(http://www.g24i.com).
 Further study
• Almost all research on DSSC has been done using
the standard glass based cell. A sidetrack from the
mainstream would therefore be a study of DSSCs
on plastic or metal foil substrates
• e.g. “Study of mechanical and electrical properties
of the interface between the TiO2 film and the FTO
coated plastic sheet”
• There is a vast field to work on electrolytes of
DSSC such as jelly electrolyte, solid electrolyte etc.
THAN YOU
K