2013 IEEE Conference on Clean Energy and Technology (CEAT)

Development of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell (DSSC)

Using Patterned Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) Glass
Fabrication and testing of DSSC
M. Mazalan*, M. Mohd Noh, Y.Wahab, M. N. Norizan, I. S. Mohamad
Advanced Multidisciplinary MEMS-Based Integrated Electronic NCER Centre of Excellence (AMBIENCE)
School of Microelectronic Engineering
Universiti Malaysia Perlis
Kuala Perlis, Malaysia
*mazleemazalan@unimap.edu.my

cells provide technical and economic concepts that are reliable

alternatives to the present day PN junction solar cells.

AbstractDye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) is the third

generation of solar cell which comprises of semiconductor
electrode, counter electrode and electrolyte. It utilizes the
advantage of the wide band gap semiconductor that sensitized to
the light. This paper presents the fabrication of DSSC using
natural dyes that extracted from mangosteen pericarp and maqui
berry. Before depositing the semiconductor electrode, Titanium
Dioxide (TiO2), a pattern of lines on conductive side of Indium
Thin Oxide (ITO) glass is developed using Krypton Fluoride
(KrF) excimer laser RapidX 250 at AMBIENCE lab. For the
analysis, the absorption of the dyes is compared by using UV-Vis
spectrophotometer. While, the performance of the patterned
DSSC in terms of fill factor, efficiency, current density is
investigated by using digital multimeter. As the result, this paper
proves that the efficiency of the patterned DSSC is improved for
both of the dyes.

Like other solar cells, the DSSCs are used for converting
light energy into useable electricity [2]. The performance of the
cells are depends on the molecule of the dye and
semiconductor electrode as sensitizer. The more sensitive type
of dye to the light, more photon energy can be trapped thus
produce the higher output voltage. There are 3 main processes
that occur in DSSC. At first, the dye which has absorbed on a
layer of TiO2 will interact with a sunlight that promotes an
electron from a lower level orbital to an excited one. When
photons from source of light do penetrate the solar cell, photo
excitation occurs because the solar cell itself excited with the
dye of electrons. Then, the excited electron is injected by the
dye into the semiconductor (TiO2) and, the chemical diffusion
of electrons from the TiO2 layer into the ITO conductive layer.
The circuit should be completed by returning back the
electrons to the cell and makes the dye back to the normal
state by using an electrolyte solution. The electrolyte solution
is a medium that will helps to carry the electrons through the
cell. The cell is called a sandwich because two conducting
glasses are overlapped as shown in Fig. 1. The anode electrode
is coated with the layer of TiO2 sensitized with the dye, and the
second ITO glass is coated with carbon in order to enhance the
interaction with the electrolytic solution.

Index TermsSolar Cell, DSSC, natural dyes, excimer laser,

KrF.

INTRODUCTION
Solar energy can be harvested either by obtaining directly
from sunlight or indirect method. Various technologies have
been developed to harvest solar energy for instance, solar cells
is an effective method and has a high demand in the market.
The solar cells are classified into three generations based on
the techniques and materials used. First generation solar cells
are larger and it is silicon-based photovoltaic cells. The
weakness of solar cells limited is availability of silicon,
requiring expensive manufacturing technology and higher
energy photons are wasted as heat. The second generation of
solar cells is called thin-film solar cells, which are cheaper
than the previous generation cells but have lower efficiency.
The dye sensitized solar cells are the third generation of solar
cells which has been developed by ORegan and Gratzel in
1991 [1]. Even though it still in the research phase, the results
are promising and encouraging. In general, there are two types
of the third-generation solar cells which are nanocrystalline
solar cells and dye sensitizes solar cells. Both of them did not
have a PN junction as in traditional solar cells. These solar

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Fig. 1. Two conducting ITO is overlapped

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2013 IEEE Conference on Clean Energy and Technology (CEAT)

METHODOLOGY
The fabrication steps of the patterned DSSC are shown in
Fig. 2. It started with cutting the glass into 3 cm by 3 cm square
using diamond tip. The cutting line was firstly scribed onto the
glass based on the desired dimension and it followed by gently
bending the glass to break it into two parts. In this project, the
glass works as anode electrode which is made of a transparent
conducting material, which is deposited on the inner side of the
support substrate. For this purpose, a thin film of ITO coated
glass is the best option due to its high electrical properties and
transparency.
After the cutting process, the resistivity for both side of the
glass is measured in order to determine the conduction side.
Then, the ITO glass is patterned using RapidX 250 which is
available in AMBIENCE Lab [3] as shown in Fig. 3. The main
purpose of developing the patterns on the ITO glass is to
ensure more molecules of dye can be absorbed on the surface
of the glass thus the efficiency of the DSSC can be improved.
For the semiconductor electrode, the TiO2 is prepared by
grind about 1 gram of nanocrystalline TiO2 by Sigma Aldrich
with 1.5 ml of very dilute acetic acid solution, 1 ml of deionized water and one drop of dish wash. Then, the solution is
grinded until a slightly soupy colloidal suspension is obtained
as smooth as latex paint consistency. This recipe is enough to
paste onto four pieces of ITO glass. Next, some TiO2 paste is
placed onto the ITO glass and spread it using a glass rod.

Fig. 2. Fabrication steps of patterned DSSC

Carbonyl and hydroxyl groups present in the

anthocyanin molecule can be bound to the surface of a
porous TiO2 film. This makes electron transfer from the
anthocyanin molecule to the conduction band of TiO2 [4].
In this project, the anthocyanin of mangosteen and maqui
berry are extracted at room temperature. The natural dye is
blended for 10 minutes until it shows homogeneous in colour.
After that, the ITO glass coated by TiO2 is immersed into the
anthocyanins. For the counter-electrode layer, it is simply

done by depositing the carbon produced through

combustion from a candle onto the surface of the second
ITO glass [5]. The method is just passing the ITO glass,
conducting side down, through a candle flame in a
second. The photovoltaic efficiency of DSSC produced
using carbon as the counter electrode shows the good
results compared to other type of materials. This is due to
the small particles of carbon produced during combustion
that studies have found to be as small as 10 nanometers
[6].

Fig. 3. Excimer Laser RapidX 250 in AMBIENCE lab

The full assembly of the DSSC is completed by combining

the ITO glass coated by TiO2 and natural dye with the ITO
glass coated by carbon. The binder clips are used to hold the
electrodes together. The electrolyte liquid is inserted between
the gaps of the electrodes by capillary action.

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2013 IEEE Conference on Clean Energy and Technology (CEAT)

RESULT AND DISCUSSION

UV-VIS Spectrophotometer
The absorption spectrum and the transmission of extracted
dye of mangosteen pericarp and maqui berry were obtained
using UV-Vis. The wavelength range of mangosteen pericarp
and maqui berry spectrum lays is between 400-700 nm. The
absorption of mangosteen and maqui berry dye extracted is
shown in Fig. 4. It shows that both of the dye extracts have the
same level of absorbance however the mangosteen pericap dye
has higher of maximum wavelength than maqui berry.

Fig. 5. Pattern on ITO glass

High Power Microscopy

For the observation on the width and depth etched on ITO
glass by the RapidX 250, the high power microscope is used.
Fig. 5 shows the width, depth and gap profile of the pattern on
the ITO glass.
(a)

(b)
(a)

Fig. 4.The dye absorption of (a) mangosteen pericarp and (b) maqui berry.

Scanning Electron Microscopy

The Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) is used to
characterize the pattern on the ITO glass substrates. Fig. 5
shows the result of the pattern on the ITO glass with the setup
of the RapidX 250 at 11.2 mJ laser energy, 10 pulse/s of laser
speed and 50 numbers of pulse.

(b)
Fig. 6. The (a) width and depth (b) gas profile of the pattern on the ITO
glass

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I-V Characterization
For the IV characterization, the DSSC is tested under direct
sunlight. The current-voltage produced is measured using 500
ohm potentiometer as a variable load, current meter (I) and
voltmeter (V). The measurement using potentiometer is started
from 10 ohm until 100 ohm. The IV characterization is
compared between difference dyes and DSSC with laser
patterning on ITO glass as depicted in Fig. 7 and Fig. 8
respectively.

(b)
Fig. 8. I-V characteristic of DSSC using Maqui berry (a) without pattern
(b) with pattern

From the observation, the voltage of sample is keep

increasing proportionally to the variable resistance.
Nevertheless, the current decreases when the variable
resistance is increased. A similar observation was also
observed for all samples of DSSCs which are extracted from
mangosteen pericarp and maqui berry with laser patterning and
maqui berry with laser patterning. The short circuit current
(Isc), open circuit voltage (Voc), fill factor (FF) and efficiency
() are calculated and tabulated as shown in Table 1.

(a)

Table 1 Comparison of Pmax, Imax, FF and Efficiency

Extract Source
Isc
Voc
FF
Efficiency,
(mA)
(mV)
0.04E-3
2.5E-3
0.48
0.12
Mangosteen
Pericarp
0.43E-3
16.2E-3
0.33
0.575
Mangosteen
Pericarp (Laser
Patterned)
0.07E-3
0.2E-3
0.143
0.005
Maqui Berry
Maqui Berry
(Laser Patterned)

(b)
Fig. 7. I-V characteristic of DSSC using Mangosteen percicarp (a) without
pattern (b) with pattern

15.4E-3

1.79E-3

0.272

0.188

CONCLUSION
As the conclusion, the mangosteen pericarp extract has
higher of maximum wavelength as compared to the maqui
berry extract based on the absorption analysis using UV-Vis
Spectrophotometer. However, both of the extract dyes shows
about the same level of absorbance. The efficiency of the
DSSC using mangosteen pericarp with laser patterning shows
the increment from 0.12 to 0.575. Meanwhile, the efficiency
of the patterned DSSC using maqui berry dye is improved
from 0.005 to 0.188.These results prove that laser patterning
on ITO glass contribute the significant improvement towards
better efficiency of DSSC.

(a)

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ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This work was supported by FRGS grant No. 9003:0339
from University Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP) and Ministry of
High Education (MoHE).
REFERENCES
[1] B. Oregan and M. Gratzel, A Low-Cost, High Efficiency Solar
Cell based in Dye Sensitized Colloidal TiO2 Films, Natural 353
1991, pp. 737 - 740
[2] K. Wong Charee, V. Meeyo and S. Chavadei, Dye Sensitized
Solar Cell using Natural Dyes Extracted from Rosella and Blue Pea
Folowers, Journal of Solar Energy & Solar Cell 2007, pp. 566 571
[3] www.ambience.unimap.edu.my
[4] Antonio Luque, Steven Hegedus, "Handbook of Photovoltaic
Science and Engineering" John Wiley & Sons Ltd Publishers 1st ed.
[5] Michael Grtzel Greg P. Smestad, Journal of Chemical Education
1998, 75, 752.
[6] David B. Lenhert Samuel L. Manzello, Ahmet Yozgatligil,
Michael T. Donovan, George W. Mulholland, Michael R. Zachariah,
Wing Tsang, Proceedings of the Combustion Institute 2007, 31, 675.

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