Enhancing the photocurrent of dye-sensitized solar cells by nanofiller effect

Abstract

The overall performance of the DSSC can be enhanced by modifying the photoanode, electrolyte, and counter electrode separately. Liquid-based redox couple electrolyte gives high efficiency but the rapid evaporation of solvent is a major problem. To overcome this limitation polymer electrolytes are used in dye-sensitized solar cells and DSSCs were fabricated with Poly (vinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene) (PVDF-HFP) gel polymer electrolyte in this study. In order to enhance the performance of the electrolyte, different weight percentages (wt%) of TiO2 nanoparticles were added to the electrolyte. 2.5 wt% of the TiO2 incorporated DSSC shows a high efficiency of 5.93% while the controlled cell shows 5.69%. This improvement is due to the nanofiller effect of the TiO2 nanoparticles in the polymer electrolytes. The overall efficiency of the solar cell has been enhanced by 4.18% due to the effective charge transportation and quick regeneration of dye molecules with less recombination.