Dye sensitized solar cell based on 1,8-naphthalene benzimidazole comprising carboxyl group

Abstract

We report the characterization of 1,8-naphthalene benzimidazole comprising carboxyl group. We have fabricated dye-sensitized nanocrystalline TiO2 solar cell (DSSC) based on naphthalene benzimidazole dye. The device structure is FTO/nc-TiO2/Dye/I–/I3–/Pt/ FTO. We calculated the EHOMO and ELUMO levels of this new dye by using cyclic voltammetry measurement. The ELUMO level of naphthalene benzimidazole is 3.2 eV. This value is higher than the conduction band of TiO2. Electrons can be injected to the conduction band of TiO2. The current-voltage (I-V) characteristic of cell was measured under simulated AM 1.5 illumination (100 mW/cm2). We obtained the open circuit voltage; Voc = 0.344 V, short circuit current density; Isc = 5.93 mA cm-2, filling factor; FF = 0.45, power conversion efficiency; η = 0.91%.