http://gen.lib.rus.

ec

P i i l off photovoltaic
Principles h t lt i conversion
i
All photovoltaic energy conversion is based on photoelectric effect, in which
li ht falling
light f lli on (semiconductor
( i d t or other)th ) material creates
t i l t an electron‐hole
l t h l pairi
in it. To extract electricity out of the system, the electrons and holes must be 
separated before recombination, after which they can be transferred to an
external circuit How this charge carrier separation is realized,
external circuit. realized depends on
depends on
the solar cell type.

2
In conventional, solid semiconductor solar cells, electrons and holes are driven
apart by internal electric field in the device. This field forms around the p‐n
junction which is the core of all solid semiconductor
junction, solid semiconductor photovoltaics.
photovoltaics P
P‐n
n junction
is created by combining blocks of oppositely doped semiconductors.

3
In DSSC, the charge carrier separation happens on an interface between
electronic and ionic conductors.
conductors The semiconductor typically
The semiconductor typically used in these cells,
cells
titanium dioxide, has band gap too wide for visible light to evoke photoelectric
effect, but the electrons are fed into the material from electronically excited dye 
molecules adsorbed on its surface. In this process, the dye gets oxidized,
on its surface In this process the dye gets oxidized i.e. a 
ie a
positive charge is created. For the electron injection process to continue the dye
needs to be reduced back to its ground state, which is done by electrolyte which
contains a redox couplep and is in contact with the TiO2 layer.
y Thus, the positive
, p
“hole” is transferred into the electrolyte as the oxidized form of the redox couple
and the electrons are fed into the TiO2. Because the holes can not move in the
TiO2 and electrons in the electrolyte,
y charge carrier
g separation
p is achieved.

4
 P i i l off DSSC (Gräztel
Principle (G ä t l Cells)
C ll )

Electricity in DSSC is generated on the photoelectrode, which is a nanoporous

TiO2 film sensitized with a monolayer of visible light absorbing dye and
penetrated
t t d withith a redox electrolyte.
d l t l t The Th TiO2‐electrolyte
l t l t network
t k is
i sandwiched 
d i h d
between two conductive substrates that also work as current collectors.

6
1) Dye light absorption / Photoexcitation
2) Electron injection by the dye into TiO2
3) D
Dye regeneration
ti by electrolyte
b l t l t 7
4) Iodide regenaration at counter electrode
Dye bonding to the TiO2. Two possible bonding mechanisms (ester 
bonding and carboxylate bidentate coordination) presented

10
The amount of current that the cell is able to generate is determined by the 
energetic distance of the HOMO and LUMO of the dye, which equals the band
gap in inorganic semiconductors.

After injection, electrons diffuse in the nanocrystalline TiO2 network to the

conductive coating of the substrate, from which they can be transferred to an 
external circuit.
t l i it

The electron injection to the TiO2 leaves the dye molecule on an oxidized

state so in order for the current generation to continue, the dye must be 
state so, in order for the current generation to continue the dye must be
reduced back to its ground state.

The oxidized
The oxidized dye gets electrons from the iodide
the iodide ions which, in turn, get 
in turn, get
oxidized to triiodide in the process. The triiodide ions then diffuse to the 
counter electrode, where they get reduced back to iodide by the electrons
returning
g from the external load.

11
http://www.bath.ac.uk/powerttp/solar_cells.shtml
htt // b th k/ tt / l ll ht l
12
http://educypedia.karadimov.info/education/solarcellanimations
.htm
 Composition of DSSC

The DSSC device consists of 4 components:

semiconducting electrode
• n‐type TiO
t TiO2 and
d p‐type
t NiO

Dye‐sensitizer
• Light harvesting and electronic transition

Redox mediator
• I‐ / I3‐ or CoII / CoIII complexes
p

Counter electrode
• Carbon or Pt

13
Dye‐sensitizers

14
Figure 1. Energy diagram for a DSSC. CB and VB refer to the conduction band and 
valence band, respectively. EF represents the Fermi level of the
semiconductor and is represented near CB due to a high level of electronic doping. 
LUMO and HOMO levels are the least unoccupied and highest
unoccupied molecular orbitals of the sensitizer. For traditional DSSC architectures, at 
least one current collector must be a transparent electrode to
allow light into the cell. (A) Desired electron pathway. Colored arrows a, b, c, d, e, 
ll li h i h ll (A) D i d l h C l d b d
and f represent some of the energy transfer steps as described in
the main text. (B) Major recombination pathways. Colored arrows v, w, x, y, and z 
represent some parasitic recombination pathways Voltage drops
represent some parasitic recombination pathways. Voltage drops
for different charge transfer steps are represented by the colored bands
 Flexible DSSC Module

Glass‐based DSSC Module

15
Measuring Solar Cell Performance
1. Current−voltage (I−V) curve
Cu e o age (I ) cu e
2. Current density−voltage (J−V) curve
11. The open circuit voltage (V
The open circuit voltage (VOC) is the potential difference of the cell 
) is the potential difference of the cell
when no current is drawn (e.g., when I = 0, resistance → ∞). 
2. The short circuit current (ISC) is the current produced through the 
cell when no external load is applied (e.g. when V = 0, resistance →
ll h t ll di li d ( h V 0 i t
0). 
g
In general, a solar cell’s V OC is bounded by the band gap of the
y g p
absorbing material, and the ISC is bounded by the number of
photons incident on the solar cell with energy greater than the
band gap
band gap. 
3. A device’s fill factor (FF) is the ratio of the maximum power (PMax) 
that can be obtained from the solar cell to the product of VOC and ISC
Hi h
Higher resistance and more recombination in a solar cell reduce the 
i t d bi ti i l ll d th
device’s FF. 
p yη
4. The power conversion efficiency, η, of a solar cell is defined as the
ratio of PMax to the power incident on the solar cell (PIn) per
area.
Graphene Materials and Their Use in Dye‐Sensitized Solar Cells
Chem. Rev. 2014, 114, 6323−6348