Enhancement of Dye Sensitized Solar Cell Efficiency Using Chlorophyll as Dye Sensitizer by Adding the SnO2 Material to TiO2

Abstract

Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell (DSSC) is the third generation of solar cells. DSSC is formed by sandwich structure, there are five parts: ITO glass (Indium Tin Oxide) as the substrate; TiO2 and SnO2 as semiconductor material; natural dye from chlorophyll as an electron donor; gel electrolyte as electron transfer and active carbon as a catalyst in the counter electrode. The synthesis of nanometer-sized TiO2 powder is obtained by coprecipitation method. The layer of TiO2 was deposited on top of an ITO glass by doctor blade method. From the research, the DSSC efficiency has increased by nearly 100% after additions SnO2 to TiO2. The DSSC efficiency result is 0.05% for DSSC before additions and 0.1% after additions.