The Construction and Comparison of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells with Blackberry and N719 Dyes

Abstract

In a dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC), the amount of light absorption dependson the design of the pigments, which determines the strength of light absorption and theoptical range of the cell. In this paper, we have constructed and studied two fairly similarpattern of DSSCs in structure. The thickness of TiO2 used for both cells is taken to be 2μm. We have used an industrial N719 dye for one of the cells and a natural blackberrydye for the other. The N719 dye is the most common dye used in DSSCs. The resultsobtained from the I-V curve indicate a 700 mV open-circuit voltage (Voc), an 8.57 mAshort-circuit current (Isc), a 70% fill factor (FF) and a 4.2% efficiency for the N719sample. Blackberry is a natural dye which has no toxic effects in comparison with theindustrial samples. The results obtained from the blackberry cell experiment indicate a770 mV Voc, a 2.08 mA Isc, a 70% FF and a 1.13% efficiency.

Keywords

• dye-sensitized solar cell
• pigment
• natural blackberry dye
• the n719 dye
• efficiency