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

Ege University, Solar Energy Institute, 35100 Bornova-Izmir, Turkey

Corresponding authors: sule.erten@ege.edu.tr siddik.icli@ege.edu.tr

Received: 25 July 2006
Revised: 26 March 2007
Accepted: 28 March 2007
Published online: 13 June 2007

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 E_HOMO and E_LUMO levels of this new dye by using cyclic voltammetry measurement. The E_LUMO 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; V_oc = 0.344 V, short circuit current density; I_sc = 5.93 mA cm^-2, filling factor; FF = 0.45, power conversion efficiency; η = 0.91%.