Effect of binder material in preparation of carbon free TiO2 as photo anode in dye sensitized solar cells

In dye-sensitized solar cells, the binder used in the fabrication of the semiconductor photo-anode layer plays a significant role in the surface morphology of the anode film, which has impact on the overall performance of the DSSCs. In this work, two synthetic polymers viz., (poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA), poly (vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP)) and their blends (1:1, 1:3, 3:1) are used as a binder and investigated their effect on the efficiency of the DSSCs. The DSSC devices are fabricated using commercial TiO2 nanopowder as photoanode anode, N719 dye, Idolyte HI-30 as electrolyte and Plastisol T as counter electrode. Among the various DSSCs fabricated, the sample prepared with pure PVP as binder shows the highest power conversion efficiency of 1.87%, short-circuit photocurrent density and open-circuit voltage of 10.14 mA/cm2 and 0.56 V, respectively.