A Study of the Photo-Electric Efficiency of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells Under Lower Light Intensity

To elucidate possible challenges for outdoor practical use of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs), we compared conventional Si solar cells with DSCs. DSC modules still require a larger area than conventional Si solar modules to attain the same rated output because of lower photoelectron-chemical conversion efficiency. However, in backup systems by using batteries, the measured data shows that DSCs generated 15% more electricity than Si solar cells of the same rated output power in the same interval of cloudy daylight. Moreover, the battery charging time of DSCs is about 1 hour faster than the same rate of Si solar cells under outdoor cloudy daylight. This result also indicates that conversion efficiency obtained by the certified condition less than AM 1.5 condition does not always coincide with the electricity generated outdoors daily, and it is not a crucial measure to evaluate the performance of solar cells.