Fluorine doped-tin oxide prepared using

spray method for dye sensitized solar cell

application
Cite as: AIP Conference Proceedings 1554, 147 (2013); https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4820306
Published Online: 09 September 2013

Hendri Widiyandari, Agus Purwanto, Kuncoro Diharjo, et al.

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 Fluorine Doped–Tin Oxide Prepared Using Spray Method
for Dye Sensitized Solar Cell Application
Hendri Widiyandari1,*, Agus Purwanto2, Kuncoro Diharjo3, Suyitno3 and Eko
Hidayanto1
1
Department of Physics,Diponegoro University,Jl. Prof. H. Soedarto SH, Semarang, Central Java 50275, Indonesia
2
Department of Chemical Engineering,Sebelas Maret University,Jl. Ir. Sutami No. 36 A, Surakarta, Indonesia
3
Department of Mechanical Engineering,Sebelas Maret University,Jl. Ir. Sutami No. 36 A, Surakarta, Indonesia
*h.widiyandari@undip.ac.id

Abstract. Fluorine–doped Tin Oxide (FTO) film was fabricated by spray deposition method. FTO films were prepared
in different sheet resistance 6.7, 12.1, 19.3, and 23.5 /sq. X-ray diffractograms showed that the as-grown FTO film was
tetragonal SnO2. The prepared FTO film have an average transmittance of 80% in the visible region (=400–800 nm).
These FTO films were then used to fabricate Dye Sensitized Solar Cell (DSSC). The working electrode was made from
TiO2 paste using doctor blade technique. DSSC samples were characterized using solar simulator under AM 1.5 (100
mW/cm2). It is found that the efficiency of DSSC was much affected by sheet resistance of FTO film. The efficiency of
DCCS was 2.32, 2.4, 1.1 and 0.97 (%) for the FTO sheet resistance 6.7, 12.1, 19.3, and 23.5 /sq, respectively. It is
shown that the optimum DSSC efficiency was made from FTO with sheet resistance 12.1 /sq.
Keywords: Solar Cell, Dye, FTO, Sheet Resistance, Efficiency.
PACS: 88.40.hj

INTRODUCTION improvement of dye loading as well as the way of

Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells (DSSCs) has attracted
high attention for solar energy-electricity converting
device due to low-cost, simple fabrication procedure,
and their high solar energy to electricity conversion
efficiency. DSSCs constructs from working electrode,
counter electrode, and electrolyte. Working electrode
is TiO2 (Titania) film coated on the glass of
transparent conducting oxide (FTO-Fluorinated Tin
Oxide). The counter electrode is made of Pt or carbon
coated on the FTO glass. To transport electron for dye
regeneration, an electrolyte solution (a dissolved
iodide ion/triiodide ion redox) is filled between the
electrodes. To date, the highest reported conversion
efficiency is 12.3% [1-5].
Doctor blade technique is a popular and simple
method to fabricate DSSC by spreading the TiO2 paste
on the FTO glass. The TiO2 film is compacted by
thermally annealing in elevated temperatures. The
optimization of DSSCs in order to improve their
overall efficiency was done by modifying TiO2
nanostructures. The manipulation in dimensional and
structure controls their current density due to the
electron flow in the TiO2 film [6-8]. In addition, the
use of FTO glass as a conducting material also affect
significantly on the solar cell efficiency.
In this investigation, a spray deposition method
was used to produce FTO as conducting material. This
deposition was conducted by spraying of SnCl2 and
NH4F solution of glass in elevated temperature. The
sheet resistance of FTO film was varied and then was
used for DSSCs fabrication. We studied the effect of
sheet resistance of FTO films on the efficiency of
DSSC.
EXPERIMENTAL
To produce FTO film, a spray deposition technique
was used. The precursor was an aqueous solution of
SnCl2. 2H2O (98%, Merck Ltd., Germany) and NH4F
(98%, Merck Ltd., Germany) in 0.5 N HCl. The FTO
films were prepared at various NH4F concentrations (6
at.%–14 at.%). The sheet resistance (Rs) of the FTO
films was evaluated using four-probe measurements
(Jandel Engineering, Bedfordshire, UK). The optical
properties of the FTO films were evaluated using a

Padjadjaran International Physics Symposium 2013 (PIPS-2013)

AIP Conf. Proc. 1554, 147-149 (2013); doi: 10.1063/1.4820306
© 2013 AIP Publishing LLC 978-0-7354-1180-7/$30.00

147
UV–Vis spectrophotometer (UV 2450, Shimadzu,
Kyoto, Japan).
DSSC was fabricated by doctor blade method using
tape adhesive for thickness control. A commercial
anatase TiO2 nanoparticle paste (DSL 18NR-T,
Dyesol) was used for the nanoparticle TiO2. To
produce good adherence between the transparent
conducting glass substrate (F-doped tin oxide, FTO)
and the TiO2 nanoparticle layer, the glasses are washed
in an ultrasonic bath with ethanol. Commercial anatase
TiO2 paste was coated on FTO. Subsequently, TiO2
films were annealed at 400 – 500°C for 1 hour. Titania
film were immersed in 0.5 mmol ethanol solution of
N719 dye (Dyesol) for 24 h and dried in an oven. Solar
cell was assembled by placing a platinum-coated FIGURE 1. XRD pattern of FTO film prepared using
counter electrode, fabricated using Pt-paste (PT-1, spray method.
Dyesol) and clipping two electrodes together. Two
electrodes were separated by a Surlyn spacer (25 m The prepared FTO film has good transparency as
thick) and sealed by heating. A redox electrolyte shown by UV-Vis spectra in Fig. 2. In the visible
solution (Iodolyte AN-50, Solaronix) was introduced region (400-800 nm), the transmittance of FTO film
between two electrodes. was in the range of 75% -85%. This transmittance is
The crystal structure of the powder was examined good for solar cell fabrication.
using an X-ray difractometer (XRD, RINT 2200V,
Rigaku-Denki Corp., Tokyo, Japan). The measurement
was carried out using nickel-filtered CuKD radiation
(O= 0.154 nm) at 40 kV and 30 mA with a scan step of
0.02° and a scan speed of 4°/min. The measurement of
the cell characterisitic was carried out using a
commercially available solar simulator with filters for
an AM 1.5 G characteristic (100 mW/cm2) (PEC-L11,
Peccell technologies Inc. Yokohama, Japan).

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

In this investigation, the effect of sheet resistance
on the DSSCs efficiency was evaluated. The XRD
pattern of the prepared FTO film is displayed in Fig.
1. It is shown that the prepared film using spray
method was tetragonal in phase. The crystalline
structure of the FTO films was tetragonal SnO2
(JCPDS no. 770451).
FIGURE 2. UV-Vis spectra of FTO film.
To characterize the effect of FTO film on the solar
cell performance, the DSSC was the constructed.
DSSC samples were characterized using solar
simulator under AM 1.5 (100 mW/cm2). It is found
that the efficiency of DSSC was much affected by
sheet resistance of FTO film. The photocurrentdensity-
voltage curve of DSSCs fabricated with different
sheet resistance of the FTO shown in Fig. 3. The
efficiency of DCCS was 2.32, 2.4, 1.1 and 0.97 (%) for
the FTO sheet resistance 6.7, 12.1, 19.3, and 23.5
/sq, respectively as shown in Fig 4. The variation in
efficiency was originated from the difference in
internal resistance of solar cell [4-7]. It is shown that
the optimum DSSC efficiency was made from FTO
having sheet resistance 12.1 /sq.

148
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FIGURE 3. Photocurrentdensity-voltage curve of DSSC
Kitamura, T. Sakata, Y. Wada, H. Mori and S. Yanagida,
fabricated with different sheet resistance of FTO.
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FIGURE 4. DSSC efficiency as a function of sheet

resistance.

CONCLUSION
We have investigated the effect of FTO sheet
resistance on the DSSCs efficiency. It is found that
FTO sheet resistance highly affected the DSSCs
efficiency. The efficiency of DCCS was 2.32, 2.4, 1.1
and 0.97 (%) for the FTO sheet resistance 6.7, 12.1,
19.3, and 23.5 /sq, respectively. The optimum DSSC
efficiency was obtained from FTO with sheet
resistance 12.1 /sq.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors wish to thank INSENTIF-RISET
SINAS for the research grant contract No.
38.3/UN7.5/PG/2012, Bayu Wahyudi for the
contribution in the assembly of DSSCs and for the
contribution in the preparation of FTO.

149