Effects of various light-intensity and temperature environments on the photovoltaic performance of dye-sensitized solar cells

• Photogenerated-electron loss increases with increasing temperature.
• The DSSC power conversion efficiency variation is small at large light intensities.
• High light intensity and low temperature promote the DSSC photovoltaic properties.

Low-cost dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), which offer a clean and renewable energy source, have attracted considerable attention. However, cell efficiency and performance stability remains a primary concern. The photovoltaic performance of DSSCs is significantly affected by both light intensity and operating temperature. In order to maintain the optimum operating conditions for DSSCs in practical application environments, it is important to understand the combinational effects of light intensity and operating temperature on their characteristic behaviors. In this work, we systematically investigate the conditions for satisfactory photovoltaic performance of DSSCs in various light-intensity and temperature environments. At light intensities lower than 1-Sun condition (i.e. <100 mW cm−2), the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of DSSCs is significantly decreased with increasing operating temperature due to the enhanced charge recombination rate resulting from the lowered viscosity of the liquid electrolyte. However, at light intensities higher than the 1-Sun condition (i.e. >100 mW cm−2), the PCE of DSSCs is stably maintained at elevated temperatures ranging from −4 to 60 °C due to the increased concentration of photogenerated electrons, which compensate for the loss of electrons by charge recombination between photogenerated electrons and liquid electrolyte ions.