Analysis of changes in efficiency by simulating dye-sensitized solar cells varying the characteristics of TiO2
2010
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. TiO 2 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.
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