PARAMETER ANALYSIS OF DYE SENSITIZED SOLAR CELL (DSSC) WITH TiO2 PHOTOANODE FROM CAUSTIC FUSION PROCESS OF ILMENITE CONCENTRATE

• Main Author: Wijayanti, Suwastika
• Format: Theses
• Language: Indonesia
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/45767
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

Dye sensitized solar cell (DSSC) is the third generation of solar cell that can convert solar energy into electric current with the photoelectrochemistry. Photoanode is an essential part in DSSC on electron transport. Semiconductor materials that has a wide band gap energy value are commonly used as photoanode material, such as TiO2, ZnO and SnO2. One of the most commonly used semiconductors in DSSC is TiO2 because it is relatively inexpensive, easy to synthesize and abundant. In this study, we aim to obtain TiO2 powder from Bangka ilmenite concentrate then applied as photoanode in DSSC to convert light energy to electrical energy. Synthesized TiO2 from Bangka ilmenite concentrate started with caustic fusion method then continued by water leaching and acid leaching with 8M H2SO4 so the TiOSO4 precursor will be obtained. TiO2 powder subsequently synthesized using sol-gel method from TiOSO4 precursor. The first step to made TiO2 photoanode started was to prepare TiO2 paste. The variable in this study is the addition of colloid TiO2 as a TiO2 paste binder. Dye and counter electrodes used in this study were Z907 and Platinum (Pt). The performance of DSSC with the synthesized TiO2 photoanode was compared to the performance of DSSC with Merck TiO2 and DSSC with P25 TiO2. The results showed that synthesized TiO¬2 powder from Bangka ilmenite contained Fe impurities and had an anatase phase with an energy band gap value of 3.0 eV. The morphology of synthesized TiO2 powder was in the form of spherical granules with an average particle size of 0.53 µm. The maximum performance of DSSC with the synthesized TiO2 photoanode with variations in the amount of addition of colloid TiO2 as binders was obtained when the addition of colloid TiO2 was 0.2 mL, the conversion efficiency of 0.925%. However, the present result is relatively low compared to the conversion efficiency of DSSC with Merck TiO2 and DSSC with P25 TiO2 are 1.997% and 3.642%. The plausible reason for the lower efficiency is because the particle size of synthesized TiO2 powder is not yet classified as nanoparticles and the lack of purity due to the presence of Fe impurities.