I would like to know what the active area of DSSCs is? Is it the total area of the working electrode or do the researchers use a "photomask" with a specified area to define the active area during characterization?
Active area is the area of working electode which is in contact with electrolyte( other parts of the cell)
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what is the role of masks?
It should be the area which is the semiconductor layer surface is coated by dye molecule.
Nikhil Chander, thank you for your help. But I think that if the mask area and the illuminated area are smaller than the area of tio2 film, this will affect the performance of the solar cell.
Dear Amr,
The active area is the area that can act as a solar cell. So, accordingly it is the area where the working photo electrode is covered by the dye and the electrolyte. consequently. If any layer has a smaller area than the others it will define the active area of the solar cell. The counter electrode area can be made smaller since it acts just as a hole collecting electrode.The important matter is that it must be in contact with the electrolyte. However, its area can affect the effective series resistance of the solar cell and consequently its efficiency. In fact the active layer is the dye layer where this layer absorbs light and produces electron hole pairs.The electrodes separate and collect the electrons on the cathode side and the holes on the anode side.
Practically, in order to make full use of the material and get the best performance all layers must be stacked with full alignment to each other. In this case all layers will have equal area and their is no ambiguity to fix the cell area in this case.
wish you success.
Dear Hessein,
Active area was nothing but you have to fixed the coated substrate on the TiO2 paste, like 0.5cm 2, 1 cm 2 etc., then the same are again fixed to place on the Pt counter electrode then sandwiched assembed the cell. To find out the I-V measurement for further analysis. this is the my opinion Hessein.
wish you good luck
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