ISSN 1023-1935, Russian Journal of Electrochemistry, 2014, Vol. 50, No. 11, pp. 1072–1076. © Pleiades Publishing, Ltd., 2014. Published in Russian in Elektrokhimiya, 2014, Vol. 50, No. 11, pp. 1192–1197.2, 2012, published in Elektrokhimiya, 2012, Vol. 48, No. 8, pp. @@@– @@@. 1072 1. INTRODUCTION Dye-sensitized TiO 2 solar cell (DSSC) pioneered by O’Regan and his co-workers has received a great attention by many researchers in the field of solar cell since it fabrication cost is cheaper than silicon solar cell and thin film solar cell [1–3]. Nevertheless, the cell performance in term of power conversion effi- ciency is comparable with these two types of solar cell. The highest ever power conversion efficiency achieved was 12.3% under simulated air mass 1.5 global sunlight [4]. The TiO 2 DSSC was synthesized with zinc por- phyrin dye designated as YD2-o-C8 [4]. TiO 2 with various nanostructures such as nanorod, nanosphere, nanoflower and nanowire were utilized in DSSC since it is the most stable photovoltaic material as its energy gap is 3.2 eV [5, 6]. Morphology of TiO 2 nanostruc- tures could be tuned by annealing the synthesized TiO 2 samples and treating them with surfactant. We have prepared a controlled-shape synthesis of nanostruc- ture and applied in solar cell and supercapacitor [7, 8]. The new idea of this work is the use of TiO 2 nano- structures treated with CTAB surfactant that was pre- pared via liquid phase deposition technique in DSSC. The objective of the work is to investigate the effect of utilizing of various organic dye, N719, N3 and Z907 as photosensitizer on the photovoltaic parameters of TiO 2 nanostructures dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) such as short-circuit current density, J sc and power conversion efficiency, η. This work has chosen the dyes since they performed significant photovoltaic performance when utilized in TiO 2 DSSCs [9–12]. It also investigates the effect of the concentration of the best dye, N719 on the performance of the cell. The TiO 2 nanostructures as photovoltaic materials of the cell prepared via phase liquid deposition technique were treated with CTAB surfactant in order to obtain the TiO 2 nanostructures. 2. EXPERIMENTAL Materials The raw materials for preparation of TiO 2 nano- structure includes ITO substrate, ammonium hexaflu- orotitanate (metal-fluoro complex), boric acid that Effect of Organic Dye on the Performance of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell Utilizing TiO 2 Nanostructure Films Synthesized via CTAB-Assisted Liquid Phase Deposition Technique 1 M. Y. A. Rahman a, z , A. A. Umar a, z , L. Roza a, b , and M. M. Salleh a a Institute of Microengineering and Nanoelectronics (IMEN), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia b College of Foundation and General Studies, Universiti Tenaga Nasional, 43009, Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia Received July 1, 2013 Abstract—This work is concerned with the growth of TiO 2 nanostructures as photovoltaic materials of dye- sensitized solar cell (DSSC) via phase liquid deposition technique treated with CTAB surfactant. This work investigates the influence of organic dyes, N719, N3 and Z907 as photosensitizer on the photovoltaic param- eters of TiO 2 nanostructures dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). It also highlights the effect of the concentra- tion of the best dye, N719 on the performance of the cell. The platinum films as counter electrode of the DSSC were prepared by sputtering platinum pellet on ITO substrate. The redox couple of the electrolyte uti- lized in the DSSC was iodide/triiodide. The cell sensitized with N719 dye demonstrated the best performance compared with the cell sensitized with another two dyes, N3 and Z907. This is due to N719 dye possess the highest optical absorption in visible region. The cell sensitized with 0.8 mM N719 dye performs the highest short-circuit current density, J sc and power conversion efficiency, η since it posses the highest absorption in visible region. The DSSC utilizing 0.8 mM N719 dye demonstrated the highest J sc and η of 6.48 mA cm –2 and 1.69%, respectively. Keywords: dye-sensitized solar cell, photovoltaic parameter, ruthenium dye, TiO 2 nanostructure DOI: 10.1134/S1023193514080114 1 The article is published in the original. z Corresponding authors: mohd.yusri@ukm.edu.my (M.Y.A. Rah- man), akrajas@ukm.edu.my (A.A. Umar).