Performance Analysis and Characterization of Natural Dye-sensitized Solar Cells (DSSCs) of Titanium Oxide (TiO2) Thin Film

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) thin films of titanium oxide (TiO2) sensitized with the dyes of the almond and copper leaves extracted using ethanol and water (AE, AW, CE and CW) each, have been successfully deposited on FTO conductive glass substrate using the Dr Blading method. The deposited TiO2-DSSC thin films were subjected to UV-Vis spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and I-V characteristics analysis to determine their optical, structural, morphological properties and solar cell parameters respectively. The results of the analysis showed that copper leaves dye-sensitized films (CE and CW) has absorbance is in the range of 0.45 to 0.9 and 0.25 to 0.45 respectively within the visible (VIS) regions. The absorbance of the films sensitized with almond leaves dye is lower in the range of 0.15 - 0.25 for AE and 0.04 – 0.09 for AW within the region. The percentage transmittance of the films was found to be in the range of 82.5% – 90% for the film AW, 35% – 55% for CW while the film AE has the lowest value of the order 12.5% - 35% within the VIS region. The reflectance percent of the films were generally low with the film CE having the highest value in the range of 27%-43%, CW in the range 17.5% - 26%, AE in the range 10% - 15%, while the film AW has values in the range 2.5% - 5.5% within the VIS region. All the deposited DSSCs films have high refractive index values throughout the VIS region. The bandgap energy values obtained for the films are 2.5 eV for film CE, 2.6 eV for CW, and 2.4 eV for the films AE and AW each. These are in the range of wide bandgap energies and are favourable for application in the device that required high temperature and fabrication of blue LEDs. The results of the structural analysis on the deposited thin films showed that both the films exhibited crystalline structure with crystallite sizes of 24.55 nm for CE, 27.68 nm for CW, 22.27 for AE and 36.30 for AW films. The films have low cell conversion efficiency but still within the margin of error for most DSSCs materials.