Light-penetration and light-scattering effects in dye-sensitised solar cells

Abstract

In this work, we have investigated the light-penetration and light-scattering effects in a dye-sensitised solar cell (DSSC) that consists of a bilayer structure of normal and light-scattering layers (LSLs). The LSL is located at the backside of the DSSC to reflect light. The photovoltaic performance of the LSL-DSSC is improved by the light reflection from the layer, which significantly increases the reabsorbing ability of the dye. However, the intensity of the penetrated light was reduced when the concentration of the adsorbed dye was increased, indicating that tight scattering and light penetration are hindered by the adsorbed dye. In order to obtain a relatively inexpensive, but highly efficient DSSC, the relationship between the dye concentration and the conversion efficiency was investigated to maximise the light-scattering effect using a minimal amount of adsorbed dye.