Solar cells

Solar cells generate electricity by three steps: absorption of light, separation of charge
carriers, and transport of these carriers (electrons and holes) to the electrode. Not all
materials absorb sunlight equally, since only light with the energy higher than the band gap
(see figure) can be absorbed:

Thus, for an efficient solar cell a material should absorb as much sunlight as possible
and also have efficient charge transport to minimize the losses. The performance of the
solar cell is usually described using power conversion efficiency parameter, which is
determined by measuring the current-voltage (J-V) characteristics of the cell.
A typical J-V characteristic of a solar cell is shown in the figure below. Dark current is
the current which flows through the cell in the dark, while light current is the current under
illumination. The efficiency is calculated as =JscVoc FF/P, where P is the light power,
Jsc is the short circuit current density (current density corresponding to V=0), Voc is the open
circuit voltage (voltage corresponding to J=0), and FF is the fill factor.

Fill factor represents a measure of deviation from the ideal J-V characteristics. In an
ideal solar cell, FF=1 and this corresponds to the J-V characteristics shown in panel a of the
figure below.

Since this means that there is a zero series resistance Rs=0 and infinite parallel
resistance Rp= of the cell, which is not realistic. A typical characteristic of a real cell is
shown in the panel b, and you can see that to maximize the fill factor (i.e. approach ideal
cell) Rs needs to be as small as possible and Rp needs to be as large as possible (see panels c
and d). The fill factor for the measured (or simulated) J-V characteristics is typically
determined by a software to accurately find this parameter (defined as maximum power of
the real cell divided by maximum power of an ideal cell which is simply Jsc*Voc).

Concerning making the absorption as large as possible, it is important to consider how

well does the material of the cell match the solar light. An example, comparison between
the quantum efficiency (QE, which is determined by absorption of the material, as well as
carrier collection efficiency) of a GaAs solar cell and solar spectrum is shown below. It can
be observed that only a part of the solar energy can be converted to electricity using this
material. There is no material which can utilize all of the available energy of the sunlight,
but to have high efficiency we need to have high overlap between the absorption spectrum
(or QE) of the material and the solar spectrum.

Item checklist :
a) Glass plate coated with titanium dioxide (cloudy like)
- Negative electrode
b) Glass plate coated with indium tin oxide(ITO) (transparent)
- Positive electrode
c) Multimeter
- To determine the electrically conductive sides of
the negative and positive electrodes

d) Electrolyte
- To apply in between positive and negative electrodes to
complete the electrical circuit
e) Petri dishes
- To prepare the dye solution
f) Clips
- To clamp the positive and negative electrodes together
g) Pencil
- To coat the positive electrodes with graphite
h) Wash bottle with de-ionized water
- To wash away the excess dye
i) Pipette filler
- To air-dry the electrodes after rinsing with de-ionized water
(DI water)
j) Light source (LEDs)
- LEDs of different color for the measurement
of solar cell

k) Power meter
- For measuring the power intensity of the light source

l) Silicon solar cell

- For comparison with the organic dye
sensitized solar cell

Steps to assemble a dye sensitized solar cell (DSSC)

1) Identifying the conduction side of the positive electrode
Turn on the multimeter to the 200 ohm resistance position. Place the
two measurement probes onto one of the surfaces of the glass
electrode, making sure that two probes are not tucking on another. If
the display shows a value, this is the conduction side of the glass.
See figure 1.

Figure 1

2) Use a pencil, apply a graphite coating to this surface until the surface
is completely covered. See figure 2.
Figure 2

3) Take the negative electrode, immerse it with the coated side facing up in the dye
solution (can be tea, fresh fruit juice or coffee!). After approximately 5-10 minutes, the
dye should have completely penetrated the titanium dioxide layer which by then will
have changed color.
4) Rinse off the excess dye by the de-ionized water (DI water) with the wash bottle
provided, then air-dry the negative electrode with the pipette filler.
5) Carefully join the positive and negative electrodes with their active
sides (with the layers of dyed titanium dioxide and graphite) are in
Figure 3

direct contact with each other. Fix the electrodes by paper clips. Remember to leave
some active area exposed for the crocodile clip contact. See figure 3.
6) The solar cell is now ready to be activated. Drip the electrolyte carefully
into the space between the two glass plates. See figure 4. The liquid will
then spread through the cell by itself by capillary action.
Figure 4

7) The cell is now ready to be measured.

Measurement of solar cell
1) Use the paper clip to fix the mask with a rectangular hole on the solar cell. This mask
can limit the active area of the solar cell to 1.48 cm2.
2) Click the solar cell measurement.vi icon on desktop to start the measurement
program. In the program, you are able to measure the current-voltage (J-V)
characteristics of the solar cell.
3) Connect the solar cell with the crocodile clip provided. The red clip should connect to
the positive electrode (transparent glass plate) and the black clip should connect to the
negative electrode (cloudy white glass plate).
4) You will need to input several measurement parameters before starting the
measurement
a. Device area : With the mask, the device area is 1.48 cm2
b. Start voltage and Stop voltage : We usually measure from -0.1 V to 1 V for solar
cell measurement
c. Light intensity: The amount of light shining on the solar cell needs to be
measured first in order to calculate the efficiency.
d. Step size: The smaller the step size, the more detail of the J-V graph
e. Delay time: It is the time delay between each step. Both the step size and the dely
time will affect the total measurement time.
5) Connect one of the LEDs of the light source board to the
power supply.

6) Measure the light with the power meter. This is the most important step as this
measurement would greatly affect the result of the calculation of the solar cell
efficiency. Put the power meter horizontally and perpendicularly in front of the light
source at about 1 cm distance. Record the exact distance between the light source
and the power meter. Make sure you put the solar cell at the same distance when
you measure it.
The power meter has a calibration factor of 2, i.e. Display reading x 2 = real value (in
W/m2)
7) Place the solar cell perpendicularly in front of the light source at a distance same as the
power meter. In the program panel, input all the necessary parameters and then click
RUN.
8) After the measurement finished, remember record the open circuit voltage, short
circuit current, fill factor and efficiency of the solar cell in the table below. The
program will export a file containing the raw data of the J-V graph. You can import it to
Microsoft Excel and re-plot the J-V graph. Alternatively you can press PrintScreen and
save the J-V graph with Paint.
9) Repeat the measurement for the same light source to check for consistency.
10) Repeat measurement for dye sensitized solar cells with different dyes (Steps 5-9) using
the white light source. Choose the best cell for measuring response to different light
color.
11) Repeat step 5 to 9 with different light source to see the response of the solar cell under
different color of light. Youll just need to record the Jsc for this step.
12) If you have any time left, please do a comparison by measuring the Silicon solar cell
from step 5 to 9.

Dye sensitized solar cell

Cell 1 ( Dye :

Light source
: White LED
Light intensity :
Trial 1
Trial 2

VOC :

Fill factor :

Efficiency :

VOC :

Fill factor :

Cell 2 ( Dye :

mA/cm2

JSC :

%
mA/cm2

JSC :
Efficiency :

Light source
: White LED
Light intensity :
Trial 1
Trial 2

VOC :

Fill factor :
VOC :

Efficiency :
V

Fill factor :

Cell:

mA/cm2

JSC :

%
mA/cm2

JSC :
Efficiency :

(1 or 2)

Light source : Royal Blue LED (455 nm)

Light intensity :

Light source : Blue LED (470 nm)

Light intensity :

Trial 1

JSC :

Trial 1

JSC :

Trial 2

JSC :

Trial 2

JSC :

Light source : Cyan LED (505 nm)

Light intensity :

Light source : Green LED (530 nm)

Light intensity :

Trial 1

JSC :

Trial 1

JSC :

Trial 2

JSC :

Trial 2

JSC :

Light source : Amber LED (590 nm)

Light intensity :

Light source : Red LED (627 nm)

Light intensity :

Trial 1

JSC :

Trial 1

JSC :

Trial 2

JSC :

Trial 2

JSC :

Silicon solar cell

Light source
: White LED
Light intensity :
Trial 1
Trial 2

VOC :

JSC :

Fill factor :

Efficiency :

VOC :

JSC :

Fill factor :

Efficiency :