Performance Evaluation of Dye Sensitized Solar Cell for Varying TiO₂ Thicknesses

Abstract

A dye-sensitized solar cell with a dimension of 6 x 2 cm is fabricated with variation Titanium Dioxide, TiO2 thickness of 40 μm, 80 μm and 120 μm by smearing it on an Indium Tin Oxide, ITO coated glass. It was then tested under the average solar irradiance and temperature of 693.69 W/m2, 44.4 °C respectively. Based on investigation it was found that TiO2 of 40 μm produces an open voltage circuit of 0.21V, Short circuit current of 121.28 μA, and efficiency (η) of 9.78% while the 80 μm produces open voltage circuit of 0.16 V, short circuit current of 69.89μA and efficiency (η) of 2.66%, and TiO2 layer with thickness of 120 μm produces open voltage circuit of 0.00063 V short circuit current of 0 mA, efficiency (η) of 0%, and from these results, it shows that the best charge generation is from the thinner TiO2 thickness layer which is the 40 μm compare to other size.