Efficiency Investigations of Organic/Inorganic Hybrid ZnO Nanoparticles Based Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells. (29th September 2016) - Singh, Satbir
Abstract : The present research study focuses upon the synthesis, characterization, and performances of optoelectronic properties of organic-inorganic (hybrid) ZnO based dye sensitized solar cells. Initially, polymer dye A was synthesized using condensation reaction between 2-thiophenecarboxaldehyde and polyethylenimine and was capped to ZnO nanoparticles. Size and morphology of polymer dye A capped ZnO nanoparticles were analyzed using DLS, SEM, and XRD analysis. Further, the polymer dye was added to ruthenium metal complex (RuCl3 ) to form polymer-ruthenium composite dye B . Absorption and emission profiles of polymer dye A and polymer-ruthenium composite dye B capped ZnO nanoparticles were monitored using UV-Vis and fluorescence spectroscopy. Polymer dye A and polymer-ruthenium composite dye B capped ZnO nanoparticles were further processed to solar cells using wet precipitation method under room temperature. The results of investigations revealed that, after addition of ruthenium chloride (RuCl3 ) metal complex dye, the light harvesting capacity of ZnO solar cell was enhanced compared to polymer dye A capped ZnO based solar cell. The polymer-ruthenium composite dye B capped ZnO solar cell exhibited good photovoltaic performance with excellent cell parameters, that is, exciting open circuit voltage (V o c ) of 0.70 V, a short circuit current density (J s c ) of 11.6 mA/cm 2, and a fill factor (FF) of 0.65. A maximum photovoltaic cell efficiency of 5.28% had been recorded under standard air mass (AM 1.5) simulated solar illuminations for polymer-ruthenium composite dye B based hybrid ZnO solar cell. The power conversion efficiency of hybrid ZnO based dye sensitized solar cell was enhanced by 1.78% and 3.88% compared to polymer dye A (concentrated) and polymer dye A (diluted) capped ZnO based dye sensitized solar cells, respectively. The hybrid organic/inorganic ZnO nanostructures can be implemented in a variety of optoelectronic applications in the future of clean and green technology.