Enhancement of photovoltaic performance of quasi-solid state dye sensitized solar cell with dispersion of a hole conducting agent

The presence of a hole conducting agent in a quasi-solid state dye sensitized solar cell (DSSC) may improve cell parameters. The paper reports on the photovoltaic properties of two types of cells, one containing a layer of CuI on a dye coated ZnO electrode (cell A) and the other with CuI dispersed in a gel electrolyte (cell B). The cell A generated a short circuit current density of 7.45 mA·cm-2 ,an open-circuit voltage of 0.56 V, a fill factor of 0.54 and an overall power conversion efficiency of 2.26% under 100 mW·cm-2 (air mass: 1.5). In cell B, an enhancement in its performance was observed. The cell showed 2.67% efficiency with a short circuit current density of 8.75 mA·cm-2, an open-circuit voltage of 0.59 V and a fill factor of 0.52. The increase in the performance is attributed to the improvement in the hole transport in the electrolyte. The efficiency of cell B was further increased to 3.38% by introducing a compact layer of ZnO 106 nm thick.