Analysis of adsorption properties of N719 dye molecules on nanoporous TiO2 surface for dye-sensitized solar cell

Ordered nanoporous TiO2 materials (MK-TiO2, MS-TiO2, and MU-TiO2) were synthesized for the dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) by using different silica templates such as KIT-6, SBA-15, and MSU-H. To prepare a photoelectrode in DSSC, cis-bis(isothiocyanato)bis(2,2′-bipyridyl-4,4′-dicarboxylato)-ruthenium(II)bis-tetrabutylammonium dye (N719) was adsorbed onto the synthesized nanoporous TiO2 materials. The samples were characterized by XRD, TEM, FE-SEM, AFM, and N2 adsorption analyses. The photovoltaic performance of DSSC was evaluated from the overall conversion efficiency, fill factor, open-circuit voltage, and short-circuit current from the I–V curves measured. It was found that the photoelectric performance is highly dependent on the adsorption properties of N719 dye molecules on the nanoporous TiO2 replicas (MK-TiO2, MS-TiO2, and MU-TiO2) synthesized from different silica templates.