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Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell Using Copper and Nitrogen Co-doped Titania as Photoanode

Received: 22 October 2015     Accepted: 2 November 2015     Published: 24 November 2015
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Abstract

Energy crisis is a burning problem in the present scenario, as natural energy resources will be exhausted very soon, due to their rapid utilization. Solar cells have attracted the attention of researchers, as using these devices sunlight can be converted into electricity, which is freely available to us. DSSCs is one of the important and new type of solar cell, which deliver higher photoelectric conversion efficiency and low production cost by combining wide-band gap semiconductor electrode, dye as sensitizer, a counter electrode and redox electrolyte like iodide and triiodide ions between them. In the present work, a comparison is made for the efficiency of pure TiO2 and Cu/N co-doped TiO2 fabricated DSSCs. Pure TiO2 and Cu/N co-doped TiO2 were prepared through sol-gel process. These electrodes were also characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), fourier transform infrared (FTIR), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and diffuse reflectance spectra (DRS) techniques to know about their morphology, band gap, particle size etc. The cell was prepared by coating of Cu/N‒TiO2 film on the conductive side of FTO glasses using Rhodamine B dye as sensitizer. Liquid electrolyte I/I3 redox couple and carbon (graphite) as counter electrode and light intensity 60 mWcm‒2 were used. The observations revealed that Cu/N doped electrode showed maximum conversion efficiency with an open circuit voltage (Voc) = 395.0 mV, short circuit current (isc) = 0.0339 mA, Vpp = 66.2 mV and ipp = 0.0209 mA with fill factor = 0.10 and the power conversion efficiency (η) = 0.0023%, which is higher than that of pure TiO2. The results showed that the doping of TiO2 by copper and nitrogen improved the efficiency of this solar cell 38 times more in compare to pure TiO2.

Published in International Journal of Sustainable and Green Energy (Volume 4, Issue 6)
DOI 10.11648/j.ijrse.20150406.13
Page(s) 219-226
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2015. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Titania, Photoanode, Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell, Co-doped, Photovoltaic Performance

References
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  • APA Style

    Purnima Dashora, Chetna Ameta, Rakshit Ameta, Suresh C. Ameta. (2015). Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell Using Copper and Nitrogen Co-doped Titania as Photoanode. International Journal of Sustainable and Green Energy, 4(6), 219-226. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijrse.20150406.13

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    ACS Style

    Purnima Dashora; Chetna Ameta; Rakshit Ameta; Suresh C. Ameta. Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell Using Copper and Nitrogen Co-doped Titania as Photoanode. Int. J. Sustain. Green Energy 2015, 4(6), 219-226. doi: 10.11648/j.ijrse.20150406.13

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    AMA Style

    Purnima Dashora, Chetna Ameta, Rakshit Ameta, Suresh C. Ameta. Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell Using Copper and Nitrogen Co-doped Titania as Photoanode. Int J Sustain Green Energy. 2015;4(6):219-226. doi: 10.11648/j.ijrse.20150406.13

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ijrse.20150406.13,
      author = {Purnima Dashora and Chetna Ameta and Rakshit Ameta and Suresh C. Ameta},
      title = {Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell Using Copper and Nitrogen Co-doped Titania as Photoanode},
      journal = {International Journal of Sustainable and Green Energy},
      volume = {4},
      number = {6},
      pages = {219-226},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ijrse.20150406.13},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijrse.20150406.13},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijrse.20150406.13},
      abstract = {Energy crisis is a burning problem in the present scenario, as natural energy resources will be exhausted very soon, due to their rapid utilization. Solar cells have attracted the attention of researchers, as using these devices sunlight can be converted into electricity, which is freely available to us. DSSCs is one of the important and new type of solar cell, which deliver higher photoelectric conversion efficiency and low production cost by combining wide-band gap semiconductor electrode, dye as sensitizer, a counter electrode and redox electrolyte like iodide and triiodide ions between them. In the present work, a comparison is made for the efficiency of pure TiO2 and Cu/N co-doped TiO2 fabricated DSSCs. Pure TiO2 and Cu/N co-doped TiO2 were prepared through sol-gel process. These electrodes were also characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), fourier transform infrared (FTIR), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and diffuse reflectance spectra (DRS) techniques to know about their morphology, band gap, particle size etc. The cell was prepared by coating of Cu/N‒TiO2 film on the conductive side of FTO glasses using Rhodamine B dye as sensitizer. Liquid electrolyte I‒/I3‒ redox couple and carbon (graphite) as counter electrode and light intensity 60 mWcm‒2 were used. The observations revealed that Cu/N doped electrode showed maximum conversion efficiency with an open circuit voltage (Voc) = 395.0 mV, short circuit current (isc) = 0.0339 mA, Vpp = 66.2 mV and ipp = 0.0209 mA with fill factor = 0.10 and the power conversion efficiency (η) = 0.0023%, which is higher than that of pure TiO2. The results showed that the doping of TiO2 by copper and nitrogen improved the efficiency of this solar cell 38 times more in compare to pure TiO2.},
     year = {2015}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell Using Copper and Nitrogen Co-doped Titania as Photoanode
    AU  - Purnima Dashora
    AU  - Chetna Ameta
    AU  - Rakshit Ameta
    AU  - Suresh C. Ameta
    Y1  - 2015/11/24
    PY  - 2015
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijrse.20150406.13
    DO  - 10.11648/j.ijrse.20150406.13
    T2  - International Journal of Sustainable and Green Energy
    JF  - International Journal of Sustainable and Green Energy
    JO  - International Journal of Sustainable and Green Energy
    SP  - 219
    EP  - 226
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2575-1549
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijrse.20150406.13
    AB  - Energy crisis is a burning problem in the present scenario, as natural energy resources will be exhausted very soon, due to their rapid utilization. Solar cells have attracted the attention of researchers, as using these devices sunlight can be converted into electricity, which is freely available to us. DSSCs is one of the important and new type of solar cell, which deliver higher photoelectric conversion efficiency and low production cost by combining wide-band gap semiconductor electrode, dye as sensitizer, a counter electrode and redox electrolyte like iodide and triiodide ions between them. In the present work, a comparison is made for the efficiency of pure TiO2 and Cu/N co-doped TiO2 fabricated DSSCs. Pure TiO2 and Cu/N co-doped TiO2 were prepared through sol-gel process. These electrodes were also characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), fourier transform infrared (FTIR), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and diffuse reflectance spectra (DRS) techniques to know about their morphology, band gap, particle size etc. The cell was prepared by coating of Cu/N‒TiO2 film on the conductive side of FTO glasses using Rhodamine B dye as sensitizer. Liquid electrolyte I‒/I3‒ redox couple and carbon (graphite) as counter electrode and light intensity 60 mWcm‒2 were used. The observations revealed that Cu/N doped electrode showed maximum conversion efficiency with an open circuit voltage (Voc) = 395.0 mV, short circuit current (isc) = 0.0339 mA, Vpp = 66.2 mV and ipp = 0.0209 mA with fill factor = 0.10 and the power conversion efficiency (η) = 0.0023%, which is higher than that of pure TiO2. The results showed that the doping of TiO2 by copper and nitrogen improved the efficiency of this solar cell 38 times more in compare to pure TiO2.
    VL  - 4
    IS  - 6
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Department of Chemistry, PAHER University, Udaipur, (Raj.) India

  • Department of Chemistry, PAHER University, Udaipur, (Raj.) India

  • Department of Chemistry, PAHER University, Udaipur, (Raj.) India

  • Department of Chemistry, PAHER University, Udaipur, (Raj.) India

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