Dear Anjum,

Please write the obtained short circuit current value in mA? Is it short circuit current or short circuit current density?

short circuit current not short circuit current density. The value observed is microAmp. It is upto 180 micro Amp.

As you know, the short-circuit current is due to the generation and collection of light-generated carriers and it depends on a number of factors which are described below:

-the area of the solar cell

-the number of photons

-the spectrum of the incident light

-the electron and hole diffusion lengths and

-the optical properties

So, you should try on these parameters. First of all, check the absorption spectrum of the dye sensitized photoanodes in film form  and dyes in liquid form. You should also use a buffer layer as SnO2, some studies about this issue are in literature. You should change the morphology of photoanodes with nanorod, nanowire, etc shaped ones.

Hi,

Better to use N719 dye, Mesoporous TiO2 working electrode, after that TiCl4 treatment, and use platinum counter electrodes and Iodide -triiodide liquid electrolyte.

With the above device structure, you will never get current density in uA/cm2, and you will get efficiency up to 6%.

In my experience, i can suggest you that do not go for other semiconductors expect TiO2.

If you options you can use solid state electrolytes or polymer based electrolytes.

You can vary dyes also like N749, Squarrine dyes etc.

hank you akin sir and Chandrasekhar sir for adding the helpful answers for improving short circuit current of dye sensitized solar cells.

Suhail Sayyed

You may use wafer thickness as 10-25 nm.

Hi Anjum,

                 As Seçkin Akın told you that current density depends on many factors. If you have only option to use rose bengal and eosing y dyes, then you can play with other two parameters, which are also important to improve the current density.

-Thickness of photoanode film

-Sensitization time

Once you will able to find out optimization between these parameters, I hope you will improve ur current density.

Gurpreet

for natural dyes, sensitization time is generally longer than ru based ones, approximately 24 hour you need. 

Another Important factor which can affect the cell performance is the sealing of the cell. You must seal your cell to avoid the evaporation of the cell and also avoid shortage between the working and counter electrodes.

So I have been struggling with the same issue posted originally. Materials are as follows: ITO front electrode, P25 TiO2 powder/acetic acid paste, iodine/triiodide electrolyte, N719 dye (Solaronix) and carbon coated ITO as back electrode. Best to date is 1 mA, but most are 300 uA, even though I can hit 0.6 V consistently. Please let me know if something looks amiss.

Dr. Trent, what about spacer and sealing of  the cell

Ah yes, forgot to mention that; using parafilm spacer cut per cell when I noticed that the ITO contacts will occasionally short. Entire cell is held together with alligator clips. I expect it to degrade quickly, but I can never get an initial Isc above 1.7 mA/cm-2.

Dear Trent sir, which counter electrode is used in the above mentioned cells?  The platinum coated counter electrode gives the best results.

I have used soot coated ITO, PEDOT/DMSO coated ITO, graphite pencil lead, graphene drop and spin coated, and gold as the back electrode, all of which land me numbers around what I previously reported. Today I will sputter a thin layer of platinum on ITO and see if there is a significant improvement.

I am also wondering if there is a way to check the stability of my electrolyte, as my Iodine and Potassium Iodide are several years old (even though they claim very long shelf lives). I am also considering how to test if my ethylene glycol has been contaminated or has gone bad.

I did experienced similar issues in the development of lab protocols for making DSSC at our lab. Now we are repeatedly making up to 8% efficient cells out of N719 with cell area of 0.18cm2, using very basic setup. For details see my procedures (SI) in the mentioned publications. Let me know if you have any confusion

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In order to mention, i have found the following very important, i strongly believe current mainly depends on the light harvesting and eventual charge separation at the Dye/TiO2 interface, thus dye absorption (molar absorptivity, metal vs. metal free ) and TiO2 layer quality (thickness, printing method, treatment with TiCl4) are the most crucial ones you want to work on in order to get high Jsc. Good luck.

thank you dear Hammad sir

can you please mention the protocol used? I will be very much thankful to you.

For your convenience to know each step, i mentioned that look into the supplemental information of the papers. If you still have confusion let me know.

dear sir I could not access the supplemental information. If you could send on my mail [email protected] then I will be very much thankful to you.