Response surface modelling of titania photoanode dye sensitized solar cell (DSSC) using central composite design

The purpose of this work is to enhance the performance of photoelectrode element in Dye-Sensitised Solar Cells (DSSC) by using a Response Surface Methodology (RSM) technique. Most of previous work related to photoelectrode enhancement have relied on the traditional method known as One Factor at a Time (OFAT), which has the limitation to evaluate the interaction effect for TiO₂ Thickness and dye molarity and requires an excessive amount of experimental run. To address this issue, RSM is used to optimize the performance of DSSC in studying the relationship between two parameters TiO₂ film thickness and the concentration of N719 dye molarity. The RSM technique also helps in finding the best mathematical model on how these parameters interact and affect the result of Power Conversion Efficiency (PCE). The result from this study shown that these two variables, TiO₂ film thickness at 10 µm and the concentration of N719 at 0.4mM are significant and generated the highest value of PCE at 2.86%, with high coefficient of determination R² (0.9983). The R² of 0.9983 is close to I shows the strong correlation between the variables TiO₂ film thickness and the concentration of N719 dye molarity.