Effect of Solvent, Dye-Loading Time, and Dye Choice on the Performance of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Figure 4

Efficiency of DSSC devices prepared with 7, 10, and 20 μm thick titania films impregnated with N-749 dye dissolved in a solvent mixture by the N-749 Dip 1 (acetonitrile), N-749 Dip 2 (acetonitrile/t-butanol), and N-749 SCF (acetonitrile/t-butanol/sc-CO₂) Methods. The N-749 SCF Method achieves the highest efficiency for the device prepared with the thickest (20 μm) film, whereas the efficiency of the thick-film devices impregnated by the N-749 Dip 1 and N-749 Dip 2 Methods is significantly lower.