Enhancement of the open-circuit voltage of the dye-sensitized solar cells using a modified ruthenium dye

In this work, the open-circuit voltage (V-oc) of the dye-sensitized solar cells has been enhanced using a modified ruthenium dye. Two modified ruthenium dyes with formulas: Ru(bpy)(2)(bqdi) (PF6)(2) (Ru-D1) and Ru(bpy)(2)(dmbqdi) (PF6)(2) (Ru-D2) were prepared with chemical route. The FT-IR, structure, thermal and optical properties of the synthesized dye were investigated using a range of analytical techniques: FT-IR spectrophotometer, XRD diffractometer, differential scanning calorimetry and UV-Vis. spectrophotometer. The structural properties measurements reveal the crystalline nature of Ru-D1 and amorphous nature of Ru-D2 dyes. The photovoltaic performance of the assembled dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) based on the modified ruthenium dye has been explored under 100 mW/cm(2). The achieved open-circuit voltage (V-oc) values are enhanced to 0.74 V and 0.70 V based on Ru-D1 and Ru-D2 dyes, respectively, as compared with unmodified one (0.6 V). 23% enhancement in V-oc has been achieved for the assembled DSSC based on Ru-D1 dye as compared with that of unmodified one. The obtained power conversion efficiency are 1.46% and 1.13% for Ru-D1 and Ru-D2, respectively. The V-oc decay measurements of the assembled DSSCs based on Ru-D1 and Ru-D2 have exhibited good stability and reproducibility. This novel result presents the modified ruthenium dye as an active candidate in DSCCs applications.