Jurnal Pendidikan Sains Dan Aplikasinya (JPSA)

Vol. 8 No. 1(2025), Hal. 25-28

Experimental Study of I-V Characteristics Dye Sensitizer Solar

Cell Based on Carotenoid and Photoelectrode TiO2

Boisandi
Physics education, UPGRI Pontianak, Indonesia
Email : bsandi2021@[Link]

ABSTRACT

Dye sensitizer solar cell (DSSC) is one of the photoelectrochemical cells consisting of photoelectrode,
dye, electrolyte, and counter electrode. This article presents experimental data of I-V characteristics of
DSSC made from carotenoid and photoelectrode TiO2. Optimization of carotenoid concentration in
ethanol and optimization of TiO2 concentration in slipcasting method were investigated. It was found
that TiO2 concentration gave significant effect in slipcasting method. Current-voltage (I-V)
characteristics of DSSC made from carotenoid produced open circuit voltage (VOC) of 480 mV, short
circuit current density (JSC) of 28 μA/cm2, Fill Factor (FF) = 0.37 and photoelectric conversion
efficiency (η) 5.07 × 10-3%.

Keywords: Dye Sensitized Solar Cell (DSSC), Slipcating, TiO2, I-V characteristics.

INTRODUCTION
Solar energy sources are an attractive and profitable investment that has been proposed as the
most likely replacement for fossil fuels in the future. Nowadays the dominance of the
photovoltaic field with inorganic devices is being challenged by the emergence of dye
sensitized solar cells (DSSC). DSSC is the only solar cell that can offer both flexibility and
transparency. Efficiency is comparable to amorphous silicon solar cells but at a much lower
cost. Generally, DSSC consists of transparent conducting oxide (TCO) coated with dye TiO 2
electrodes, counter electrodes, and electrolytes containing iodide/tri-iodide ion redox pairs.
Various efforts to improve the efficiency of DSSC have been made, one of which is increasing
light trapping in TiO2 electrodes (Shakeel Ahmad et al., 2017), and develop new dyes to expand
the absorption spectrum from ultraviolet to a wider spectral range (Francis & Ikenna, 2021).
Dye molecules are placed on the TiO2 layer to achieve higher energy efficiency in DSSC.
Carotenoids are one of the dye sensitizers used in DSSCs made from natural organic materials
because they absorb the visible light spectrum. Tio2 is a semiconductor of choice with the
advantageous properties of high chemical activity, simple band gap, cheap, abundant, and non-
toxic (Al-Alwani et al., 2016); (Suhaimi et al., 2015). Various DSSC performance optimizations
have been reported, including expanding the dye absorption spectrum from ultraviolet to visible
light, photoelectrode morphology and conductivity, liquid, solid, and gel electrolytes, and
counter electrode (Sharma et al., 2018);(Mahmoudi et al., 2018);( Mariotti et al., 2020).
This study aims to determine the effect of TiO2 solution/gel concentration in the slipcasting
process on the current-voltage (I-V) characteristics of DSSC made from natural caroteneoid
which include short circuit current density (JSC), open circuit voltage (VOC), and efficiency
Photoelectric conversion of DSSC.
METHODS
The research was conducted in the laboratory of the Physics Education, UPGRI Pontianak.

DSSC Preparation
The TiO2 layer was made using the slipcasting method with optimization of the concentration
of TiO2 solution/paste in ethanol, to produce a TiO2 layer with a thickness of 50 mm and an
area of 1 cm × 1 cm. The annealing temperature of the TiO2/FTO layer was at 400 0C for 60
minutes. The slipcasting method was also used for the counter electrode, namely, 3.5 grams of
graphite powder was mixed with 15 ml of ethanol and a 1cm x 1cm graphite layer was obtained
at an annealing temperature of 4000C for 60 minutes. The assembly of the DSSC used a
sandwich technique, namely the Tio2 layer containing dye and the counter electrode was
assembled into a DSSC by sandwiching the redox ion pair electrolyte to produce a DSSC
structure that was ready to be measured (Suhaimi et al., 2015).

Current-Voltage (I-V) Characteristics of DSSC

As an introduction, the current and voltage method is used to determine the current-voltage (I-
V) characteristics of a DSSC, namely by using two multimeters and a variable resistor.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The current voltage method is used to determine the efficiency of photoelectric conversion of
DSSC made from natural dye carotenoid. Then the current and voltage can be determined for
each change in resistance value. The study observed the effect of carotenoid concentration on
increasing current and voltage. Open circuit voltage (Voc), short circuit current (Jsc) and
photoelectric conversion efficiency (η) are presented in Table 1.

Table 1 DSSC from carotenoid dye with different concentrations

Concentrations Voc Jsc (µA/cm2) FF η (%)

(mV)
0,01 mg/ml 409 6.6 0.32 8.95 ×10-4
0,5 mg/ml 485 5.5 0.39 9.55×10-4
5 mg/ml 465 6 0.38 1.01×10-3

The concentration of dye (5 mg/1 ml ethanol) produces an open circuit voltage (Voc) of 465
mV and a current density (Jsc) of 6 µA/cm2. The study observed that the dye concentration
mainly affects the increase in JSC. This result is in accordance with theoretical studies that Jsc
can be affected by dye. Furthermore, the study observed that increasing the concentration can
reduce the photoelectric conversion efficiency (η) of DSSC, because the addition of dye
concentration in ethanol solvent can increase the roughness of the dye solution which reduces
the absorption of dye molecules into the pores of the TiO2 electrode. To optimize the absorption
of dye into the TiO2 electrode, the effect of variations in TiO2 concentration was then observed.

Table 2 Effect of TiO2 solution/gel concentration on I-V DSSC

Concentrations Voc Jsc (µA/cm2) FF η (%)

(mV)
 3,5gr : 30 ml 480 28 0.37 5.07×10-3
3,5gr : 45 ml 452 14.2 0.39 2.57×10-3
3,5gr : 75 ml 465 6 0.38 1.01×10-3

Table 2 shows the variation of TiO2 concentration in ethanol solvent to obtain TiO2 layer by
slipcasting method which is then assembled into DSSC made from carotenoid dye (5 mg/1ml
ethanol). Table 2 shows the current density (Jsc) and open circuit voltage (Voc) of DSSC
measured using DT830B digital multimeter under Xenon lamp illumination of 100 mW/cm2.
The largest Voc is 480 mV and Jsc increases from 28 µA/cm2 (initial concentration of 3.5 gr/15
ml ethanol, before variation treatment) to 6 µA/cm2 (concentration of 3.5 gr/45 ml ethanol).
This is thought to be related to the properties of the semiconductor and the thickness of the
resulting layer. Previous research shows that there are satisfactory results from DSSC research
results (Zulkifili et al., 2015); (Bella et al., 2015); (Adedokun et al., 2016).

CONCLUSION
From the above results, it can be concluded that the slip casting method can affect the efficiency
of DSSC. In addition, the conversion efficiency of DSSC increases with the optimization of
TiO2 concentration in the slipcasting process. The results of photoelectric conversion
measurements in the form of current and voltage make the dye sensitizer applicable to DSSC
and can be increased by optimizing the TiO2 concentration in the slipcasting method.

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