Solar Photovoltaics

Among various photovoltaic technologies, third generation solar cells such as dye sensitized solar cells (DSSC), quantum dot sensitized solar cell (QDSSC), perovskite solar cells are the most promising renewable and sustainable energy solutions for clean electricity production at very low cost and in the diffused radiation environment. The performance of the DSSC/QDSSC mainly depends on the dye/quantum dot sensitized photoanode, counter electrode and the electrolyte. At a closer inspection it is evident that the performance of the this generation solar cell mainly depends on the dye/quantum dot sensitized photoanode.

Titania, Zinc Oxide, Tin Oxide, etc. are the most widely used semiconductor metal oxide as photoanodes. However, the overall photoconversion efficiency of the above metal oxide is limited due to low surface area /poor charge transport/inappropriate band edge positions. The performance of the photoanode can be engineered in various ways and our group is focused on the following methods for improving the overall performance of the solar cell. 

Heterojunction and its types have a major role in controlling the charge separation and transport. Taking advantage of this, our group is developing/developed highly effective multiphasic homo-heterojunction composites for efficient photoanodes for solar cell applications.


Surface plasmon enhanced photoanode is one of the most emerging techniques to improve the photon absorption, charge carrier separation and charge transport. Looking at the improved optical properties of the metal-semiconductor junction, our group is developing/developed highly effective multiphasic plasmonic homo/heterojunction composites for efficient photoanodes for solar cell applications.


Significant Publications

Significant Publications


Surface area and morphology of the semiconductor plays a major role in controlling the dye absorption and charge transport of the photoanode. Taking advantage of this, our group is developing/developed highly effective morphologically tuned multiphasic homo-heterojunction composites for efficient photoanodes for solar cell applications.

The performance of a Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell (DSSC) mainly depends on specific surface area, dye loading, pore-volume, thickness of the semiconductor layer, and electron lifetime. The optimization of these set of parameters is crucial in obtaining the best performance. The experimental optimization of the above parameters is often expensive and time consuming. Keeping this in mind our group is developing different mathematical models for obtaining the optimized parameters.

Significant Publications

Significant Publications