Analysis of changes in efficiency by simulating dye-sensitized solar cells varying the characteristics of TiO2

Dye Sensitized solar cells (DSC) are an interesting alternative to conventional silicon based solar cells. Although DSCs are very close to be commercialized, still many issues need to be addressed. Part of the problem is related to the lack of a reliable and consistent simulator able to catch the physics and the chemistry underlining the functioning of the cell. The need of a reliable simulator and modelling is particularly important for the engineering of the cell and to define trends not only in the component characteristics, but also in the building of the device. Among the different parts which compone a DSC the relevance of semiconductor titanium oxide substrate can hardly be underestimated. TiO2 is where the dye molecule is chemisorbed and where the recombination occurs. Moreover, changes in the topology of the semiconductor paste can lead to other smaller effects in the total efficiency. In this paper we investigate the effects of changing working parameters for the titanium oxide and varying its topology. The simulations are performed using a finite element code based on TiberCAD software1 to describe in details the electrical properties of the cell. The CAD allows to calculate steady-state properties and ideal I-V characteristics of the cell solving a set of differential equations on meshes in 1, 2 and 3 dimensions.     «

Dye Sensitized solar cells (DSC) are an interesting alternative to conventional silicon based solar cells. Although DSCs are very close to be commercialized, still many issues need to be addressed. Part of the problem is related to the lack of a reliable and consistent simulator able to catch the physics and the chemistry underlining the functioning of the cell. The need of a reliable simulator and modelling is particularly important for the engineering of the cell and to define trends not only...     »