Fabrication and Characterization of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell Using Blackberry Dye and Titanium Dioxide Nanocrystals

In this work, a prototype of dye-sensitized solar cell using organic dye from blackberry and semiconductor TiO2 nanocrystals was studied. The cell was fabricated using materials locally obtained in Indonesia (except the transparent conducting oxide glass), and using technologies available in-house in laboratories in University of Pelita Harapan. The cell was tested in an own-constructed dark box by irradiation with halogen lamp of 20 Watt/220 Volt with intensity of 3.58 W/m2 at a distance of 20 cm. The characterization of the cell gives I-V characteristics with open circuit voltage of 192.60 mV, short circuit current of 27.45 μA, fill factor of 29.88 %, and energy efficiency of 0.196 %. The solar cell shows degradation in performance with open circuit voltage and short circuit current degrading exponentially with degradation coefficient of 9.38 minutes and 23.49 minutes, respectively.