Document Type

Article

Publication Date

Spring 3-1-2024

Abstract

This study investigates the double role of N-doped carbon quantum dots (N-CQDs) in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) that operate under diffused- and low-light intensity conditions. We demonstrate that the incorporation of N-CQDs leads to a substantial improvement in the performance of DSSCs. Under standard one-sun illumination, the maximum power conversion efficiency (PCE) achieved with N-CQDs is 2% higher than that of the bare cell. Moreover, we introduce two new metrics, the diffused-light coefficient and the low-light intensity coefficient, to evaluate the performance of DSSCs under nonideal illumination conditions. The diffused-light coefficient is recorded at 1.55, which indicates a notable enhancement in diffused-light PCE with N-CQDs. In contrast, the low-light intensity coefficient shows a significant enhancement factor 2, which highlights the superior performance of N-CQD-based DSSCs under low-light conditions. Our findings demonstrate that N-CQDs play a dual role in DSSCs, by being added to both the commercial dye and the mesoporous TiO2 layer. These results provide valuable insights to develop and optimize DSSCs, especially for applications in indoor or low-light environments. The proposed metrics, the diffused light coefficient, and the low-light intensity coefficient, offer a meaningful assessment of the device's performance under nonideal illumination conditions.

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