Dye sensitized solar cell efficiency improvement using TiO2/nanodiamond nano composite

Abstract

This paper aims to demonstrate the efficiency and recombination improvement of Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) by introducing of a Nanodiamond (NDs)-TiO2 nano composite. The main challenge in the proposed application is to find the optimal wt.% of ND in TiO2. The experimental tests were conducted to compare the developed NDs/TiO2 cell with one of pure TiO2 nanoparticles prepared in the same conditions. It was observed that short circuit current density, power conversion efficiency, fill factor and electron life time enhanced with increasing ND content. The best performance was obtained with 1 wt.% ND content; with a current density of 12.11 mA/cm2 and light-to-electricity conversion efficiency of 4.95%. The improvement in efficiency of 18.7% was obtained as the standard DSSC was compared with that of pure TiO2.