Dye-sensitized solar cell production and analysis using metal-doped TiO2 precursors

In this thesis, semiconductor materials from dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC) main components are studied to increase the efficiency of dye-sensitized solar cells. Titanium dioxide (TiO2) was chosen as a semiconductor material. Niobium doped and undoped TiO2 coated on the fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) glass substrates and the obtained glasses were used as the working electrode of the DSSC. Ultrasonic spray pyrolysis (USP) thin film coating technique was used for coating FTO glass substrates. Titanium (IV) isopropoxide at a concentration of 0.5 M and 1-propanol (%99.99) was used fort he precursor solution. A small amount of glacial acetic acid was added to complete the reaction and increase dye adsorption. The prepared starting solution was deposited in thin film form on FTO glass substrates at 275 ° C. The nozzle frequency was set at 120 kHz, the pressure was set at 2.5 psi and the flow rate was set at 0.2 ml/min. Produced Nb-doped and undoped TiO2 coated FTO glasses were annealed at 500 ° C for 40 minutes. X-ray diffraction device (XRD), surface electron morphology (SEM) and elemental properties were examined by EDS analysis. From the XRD results, it is concluded that the annealing increases the peak intensity and improves the crystal structure. In addition, it was concluded that Nb doped didn't have a negative effect. The success of the coating was supported by EDS analysis. The efficiency of the dye sensitized solar cell produced by the doped of Nb metal was observed to be higher than that of the dye sensitized solar cell containing the Nb doped compared to the yield of dye sensitized solar cell containing TiO2. The yield of DSSC with undoped TiO2 coated working electrode was 0.03% and FF was 10.22%. The efficiency of DSSC with Nb-doped TiO2 working electrode was 0.13% and FF was 10.89%.