A Brief Study of the Carbon Counter Electrode for Photosensor based on DSSC

Abstract

We investigate the fabrication of photosensor devices based on dye sensitized solar cells (DSSC). DSSC photovoltaic cells use solar light energy to trigger chemical reactions as a source of electrical energy. DSSC has several advantages, namely low production costs, environmental friendliness, easy fabrication, and high-power conversion efficiency. Therefore, DSSC is ideal for use as a photosensor. Most DSSCs use a wet electrolyte to provide ionic conductivity to the photoanode. However, long-term use of liquid electrolyte causes corrosion which can reduce the stability of the resulting current. In this research, yttria stabilized zirconia (YSZ) solid electrolyte was used to prevent corrosion of the photoanode. Samples were characterized using XRD, SEM, UV-Vis and photoresponse. The XRD results show the crystallinity of nanoporous TiO₂ and YSZ. SEM results show that the average particle size distribution of TiO₂ /YSZ DSSC cells is 315 nm. The sensitivity, rise and fall times of the photosensor have been calculated by varying the counter electrode when testing the photoresponse. Finally, Graphene as a counter showed higher voltage and current compared to AC which is 0.2 V and 0.05 µA.