Synthesis of Dye-sensitized Solar Cell Using Nickel- tetraphenylporphrine as a Sensetizer

Abstract

A dye-sensitized solar cell was prepared under facile conditions. For this, a wide range of metalloporphrines was investigated and consequently Ni-tetraphenylporphrine was selected because it gave the maximum output in terms of voltage, current, and power. The structures of the prepared dyes were determined by single crystal X-ray diffraction (SXD) method. The molar extinction coefficient (ε) of Ni-tetraphenylporphrine in chloroform was determined (3.3.6 x 10⁵ dm3 cm⁻¹ mol⁻¹ at 413 nm). Glass electrode was made using dip-coating technique, which had resistivity of 12.5 Ocm coated with fluorine doped tin oxide (FTO) layer. It was analyzed by checking its transparency and electrical conductivity. Its compositional analysis and structural determination was carried out by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD). The analysis showed the crystalline structure of SnO₂. Grain size calculations depicted the particle size of order of 2-5 nm. Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) revealed the nanocrystals of SnO₂. Its band gap was (3.8 eV). The UV-Visible spectrum showed high transparency of glass electrode. Thickness of the film (SnO2) was calculated by surface profilometery, and thickness obtained about 100 nm. Photoelectrochemical measurements indicated that the cell present short-circuit photocurrent (Jsc) of 90 A/m², fill factor (FF = 0.37), photovoltage (Voc = 0.60 V), and overall conversion efficiency (h) of 2 % under standard test conditions (STC).