Effect of various types of Dyes and N-doping in supporting performance of TiO2 based Dye Sensitized Solar Cells

Mr.Shivam Yadav¹ *,

• ¹University Of Mumbai, Ph.D Scholar,

Dye Sensitised Solar Cell (DSSC) have piqued both practical and theoretical attention since they emerged as low-cost alternative to conventional silicon based solar cell[1][2]. TiO2 nanoparticles are abundant, stable, and nontoxic and they are widely employed for a variety of applications[3]. The band gap of TiO2 is determined to be about 3.2 eV for the anatase phase, which restricts the visible light absorption. Here we have analysed the absorption spectra for the pure TiO2 and compared it with that of N-doped TiO2 using a UV-visible spectrophotometer. Absorption spectra were also observed for composites of TiO2 made by varying the concentration of Nitrogen[7]. Synthesis of TiO2 and N-doped TiO2 was done using Sol-gel method [4][5][6]. Particle size for TiO2 was confirmed using X-Ray Diffraction.

It was observed that Nitrogen doping reduces the band gap leading to increase in the absorption of light in visible range. Further studies were carried out by adding four different Azo dyes as a sensitizer for N-doped TiO2. I-V Characterisation of the samples was examined to determine their effectiveness. The best result was found with Methylene Blue.