Effect of dye absorption time on the performance of a novel 2-hndba sensitized zno photo anode based dye-sensitized solar cell

Abstract

In the present study, dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) were fabricated using novel [(2-hydroxy-1-naphthyl) diazenyl] benzoic acid (2-HNDBA) dye. The effect of dye absorption time on the performance of DSSCs was studied. The doctor blade method was employed to prepare the ZnO seed layer. The structural, morphological and optical properties of the ZnO photoanode were studied systematically. The syntesized ZnO was found to be of hexagonal wurtzite structure. The 2-HNDBA sensitized zinc oxide based DSSCs have been studied for its photoresponse at the dye absorption time from 60-240 min. The fabricated DSSC prepread at 60 min dye absorbtion time was found to exibit a fill factor and a photo conversion efficiency of 0.44 and 1.09 %, respectively. As the preparing time increases to 120 min, the respective parameters increase to 0.53 and 2.08 % at 120 min. However, on further increasing the dye absorbtion time, the fill factor and photo conversion efficiency are reduced to 0.51, and 1.69%. Thus, 120 min dye absorbtion time has been found to be the optimized dye absorption time for novel 2-HNDBA dye-sensitized ZnO photoanode based DSSCs.