Effect of Titanium Dioxide Thickness on Performance of DSSC Solar Cell Using Red Dragon Fruit Dye

Abstract

A solar cell is an electrical device used to convert the energy of sunlight directly into electricity by the photovoltaic effect, which is a physical and chemical phenomenon. One type of solar cells that uses plant dyes is the dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC). The DSSC is in the form of a structural arrangement known as a sandwich structure, consisting of conductive glass as transparent electrode, titanium dioxide (TiO2) sensitized by plant dyes, electrolyte, and a metal electrode as a counter electrode. The paper aims to study the effect of TiO2 thickness on DSSC performance utilizing red dragon fruit flesh extract as a dye. Three variations in the thickness of the TiO2 layer evenly positioned in the conductive area are tested. The thicknesses of the TiO2 layer are 99 μm, 129 μm and 141 μm respectively. The DSSC performance is tested outdoors with sunny weather conditions from 9:30 am to 1:30 pm. A calibrated Arduino measurement kit is used to measure the voltage and current values produced by the DSSC prototype. Testing with a thickness of 141μm resulted in the highest maximum power value of 532.26 mW among the three thickness variations