Fabrication and Characterization of Porous CdS/Dye Sensitized Solar Cells

Abstract

Dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) are fabricated from porous cadmium sulfide (CdS) nanocrystalline thin films. The porous CdS nanostructured thin films are deposited onto FTO/glass substrates by the chemical bath deposition (CBD) method. The surface morphology, crystalline structure, and optical properties of the prepared nanocrystalline thin films are investigated. Rhodamine B, Malachite green, Eosin methylene blue, and Cresyl violet dyes are used to fabricate the DSSC devices. Comparing the absorption spectra of porous CdS nanocrystalline films, all dyes show an absorption peak in the transparent range of CdS thin films indicating that they are suitable for the preparation of DSSCs with CdS. Current-voltage (I-V) characteristics show that the solar cell that is fabricated using Malachite green dye shows the highest conversion efficiency of 0.83% while using Rhodamine B dye produces a solar cell with lowest efficiency of 0.38%. However, heat treatment of the fabricated solar cells causes significant enhancement in the output of all devices.