755 ISSN 1023-1935, Russian Journal of Electrochemistry, 2018, Vol. 54, No. 10, pp. 755–759. © Pleiades Publishing, Ltd., 2018. Published in Russian in Elektrokhimiya, 2018, Vol. 54, No. 10, pp. 863–868. Effect of N719 Dye Dipping Temperature on the Performance of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell 1 M. Y. A. Rahman a, *, L. Roza b , S. A. M. Samsuri c , and A. A. Umar a a Institute of Microengineering and Nanoelectronics (IMEN), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, Selangor, 43600 Malaysia b Program Studi Pendidikan Fisika, Fakultas Keguruan dan Ilmu Pendidikan, Universitas Muhammadiyah Prof, Dr Hamka, Jakarta Timur, 13730 Indonesia c Nano-Optoelectronics Research and Technology Laboratory School of Physics, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, 11800 Malaysia *e-mail: mohd.yusri@ukm.edu.my Received January 13, 2017; in final form, July 7, 2017 Abstract—Preparation parameter of dye plays important role in determining DSSC performance. This paper reports the influence of N719 dye dipping temperature on the optical properties and performance parameters of the DSSC utilizing TiO 2 films prepared via microwave technique. The TiO 2 coated N719 dye films were prepared at various temperatures, namely, 30, 50, 60, 70 and 80°C. It is found that the TiO 2 film dipped into N719 dye solution at 50°C possesses the broadest optical absorption window and the highest dye loading. It is also found that the dye dipping temperature does not affect the leak current in the device. The short-circuit current density (J SC ) and power conversion efficiency (η) are strongly influenced by the dipping temperature. The DSSC utilizing the sample prepared at 50°C demonstrated the highest J SC and η of 4.06 mA cm –2 and 1.36%, respectively due to highest dye loading and recombination resistance. Keywords: dye-sensitized solar cell, dipping temperature, microwave technique, organic dye, titanium dioxide DOI: 10.1134/S1023193518100051 INTRODUCTION Dye coated on metal oxide films in dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) serves as a sensitizer agent in enhancing light absorption especially in visible region. Normally, DSSC utilizes wide band gap metal oxides such as TiO 2 or ZnO as photoanode. The bandgap of these materials is almost the same that is 3.2 eV. How- ever, these materials only absorb light in ultra violet (UV) region due to their wide band gap, thus generat- ing low charge carrier density. In order to improve light absorption, dye is coated on the surface of metal oxide film. There are two types of dye, synthetic and natural dyes. The examples of synthetic or organic dyes are ruthenium [1], porphyrin [2] eosin-Y [3] and coumarin [4]. It has been reported that the η of the DSSC utilizing ruthenium, porphyrin, eosin-Y and coumarin dyes were 8.54, 7.10, 6.50 and 1.50%, respectively. The corresponding J SC were 23.9, 14.0, 18.8 and 1.60 mA cm –2 , respectively, [1–4]. The examples of natural dyes are roselle flower [5], blue pea flower [5], spinach leaf [6], ipomoea [6], red sicil- ian orange [7] and purple eggplant fruit [7]. The η of the DSSC utilizing roselle, blue pea, spinach, ipomoea, sicilan orange and eggplant were 0.37, 0.05, 0.32, 0.13, 0.66 and 0.48%, respectively corresponding with the J SC of 1.63, 0.37, 1.12, 0.47, 3.84 and 3.40 mA cm –2 [5–7]. Synthetic dye is more popular to be utilized as sensitizer in DSSC since it possesses higher light absorption than that of natural dye. This factor leads to DSSC utilizing synthetic dyes demonstrates much higher power con- version efficiency and short-circuit current density than that utilizing natural dye. Several researches have investigated the influence of organic dye preparation parameters dye such as dye concentration [3, 8, 9] and dipping time [9] on the performance of DSSC. In this work, we have investi- gated the influence of N719 dye dipping temperature on the performance parameters of the DSSC utilizing TiO 2 films synthesized by microwave irradiation tech- nique. The originality of this work is the study of the influence of dye dipping temperature on the DSSC performance parameters such as J SC and η. These parameters were then linked to dye loading, dark cur- rent and EIS data such as R b , R ct and carrier lifetime. EXPERIMENTAL Preparation of TiO 2 Films TiO 2 films were grown on ITO substrate by using a chemical wet microwave-assisted method. ITO sub- 1 The article is published in the original.