Effects of physical orientation of dye molecules and molecular orbitals on performance of solid-state dye sensitized solar cells.

ABSTRACT

Performance of Dye-sensitized devices depends on the photon absorption and carrier injection properties of the sensitizer (dye). The orientation of the dye molecule affects the photon absorption cross-section, injection efficiency and carrier transport. These effects are studied, using three variants of cyanine dyes in n-TiO2/Dye/p-CuSCN heterojunction. The results show correlation of dye-molecule's orientation on the short-circuit-photocurrent (Isc). The open-circuit-voltage (Voc) is also subjective. The orientation of the dye molecule influence the photon-harvesting efficiency and obstruct the hole-conductor penetrating onto the working-electrode. Additionally, Cumulative effects of e-e, e-h, spin-coupling and HOMO/LUMO distribution are identified.