The Impact of Meteorological Parameters on the performance of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

The paper presents a first study of the impact of meteorological parameters on outdoor performance of DSC. A DSC cell has been tested in real operating conditions while located in the University of Rome Tor Vergata ESTER outdoor facility, where global, direct, diffuse and reflected solar radiation, air and cell temperature, wind speed and direction, humidity are continuously monitored. Outdoor measurements have been performed on cloudless days at normal incidence of the incoming solar beam radiation, mounting the cell on a sun tracker. Cell performances have been expressed in terms of solar radiation intensity and cell temperature. Thanks to the complete set of environmental data it has been possible to fully explain the temperature behaviour of the cell. Wind conditions have shown to play a fundamental role, together with radiation intensity.