Efficiency enhancement of Dye-sensitized solar cells using Nanocomposite based One-dimensional Ternary Photonic crystal

To enhance the efficiency of light harvesting in Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), it is crucial to minimize photon loss through the counter electrode and localize photons within the solar cell. The one-dimensional Ternary Photonic Crystal (1D-TPC) is used as a Distributed Bragg Reflector (DBR) in DSSCs to enhance overall performance. The 1D-TPC comprises TiO₂/Ag-MgF₂ nanocomposite/SiO₂ layers, and the transmittance spectra of the photonic crystal are analyzed using the Transfer Matrix Method (TMM). The effective permittivity of Ag-MgF₂ nanocomposite layer is calculated by the Maxwell– Garnett equation. The occurrence of the photonic band gap (PBG) with respect to parameters such as thicknesses of layers, number of periods (N), angle of incidence (θ_i), fill fraction (f) of silver in the nanocomposite layer are studied. The improvement in short-circuit current density (∆J_sc%) of the DSSC reaches the maximum value of 134% with the optimized parameters of the 1D-TPC.