Algal buffer layers for enhancing the efficiency of anthocyanins extracted from rose petals for natural dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC)

Abstract

Summary Natural dye‐sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) are becoming promising candidates for replacing synthetic dyes. Anthocyanins, a flavonoid pigment which is responsible for the coloration in fruits and flowers, have shown productive results in employing them as natural dye for DSSC. But unfortunately, they exhibit low efficiency compared with synthetic dyes. Probing the reasons for the low efficiency of anthocyanin paves way for finding solution to increase the efficiency. This paper lists the important factors that are responsible for anthocyanin instability in DSSC. As a remedial measure, this paper introduces two buffer layer made of algal byproducts—sodium alginate and Spirulina. Rutile phase TiO2 nanorods prepared by hydrothermal method were used as photoelectrode and are subsequently characterized by X ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and optical studies. The use of sodium alginate above the photoelectrode has proved to improve the dye concentration in the film by introducing more hydroxyl groups on the surface of TiO2. Anthocyanins extracted from rose petals using citric acid as solvent were used as dye for DSSC. Prior to the sensitization process with anthocyanin dye, the TiO2 film (with sodium alginate) was sensitized with Spirulina. The chlorophylls, xanthophylls, phycocyanins, and amino acids present in Spirulina assist the anthocyanins to bond with TiO2 efficiently. This helps in enhancing the efficiency of anthocyanins of rose dye from 0.99% to 1.47%.

Low‐cost dye‐sensitized solar cells with ball‐milled tellurium‐doped graphene as counter electrodes and a natural sensitizer dye

“…The details of the characteristics of the produced cells are shown in the inset of Figure , and also in Table , with a comparison of a naturally (chlorophyll) sensitized cell by Chang et al The efficiency of the cell shows around 51% increase in the efficiency over a similarly sensitized cell. In general, the efficiency of cells sensitized by natural dyes is low (less than 1%) in most of the reviewed literature . The main advantage of the work reported here is twofold: First, the sensitizer is a nonfood material, and second, it is expected that the dyes extracted from the plants will change with seasons to control the amount of radiation absorbed by the plant (lighter dye colors in summer absorb less than richer colors in winter) and thus can mitigate efficiency loss due to heating in summer and due to lack of solar irradiation in winter.…”

Dye sensitized solar cells based on Antarctic Hymenobacter sp. UV11 dyes

“…The use of natural co-adsorbents as sugar or protein or mixtures of different dyes extracted from natural sources is widely reported and show promising results (Gao et al 2008;Hemalatha et al 2012;Lim et al 2015;Prabavathy et al 2018).…”

Synthesis and application of Fe 3 O 4 @nanocellulose/TiCl as a nanofiller for high performance of quasisolid‐based dye‐sensitized solar cells

“…Charge separation occurs in the electron donor, acceptor organic polymers, or selective contacts. DSSCs have gained considerable attention for their advantages such as low cost, relatively simple manufacturing process, and high energy conversion efficiency . DSSCs are basically thin‐layer solar cells formed by the sandwich arrangement of two electrodes (a mesoporous TiO 2 layer coated with a photosensitizer [photoanode] and a platinized counter electrode [photocathode]).…”

“…DSSCs have gained considerable attention for their advantages such as low cost, relatively simple manufacturing process, and high energy conversion efficiency. 2,3 DSSCs are basically thin-layer solar cells formed by the sandwich arrangement of two electrodes (a mesoporous TiO 2 layer coated with a photosensitizer [photoanode] and a platinized counter electrode [photocathode]). The space between the two electrodes is filled with a soluble redox couple electrolyte, such as Co 3+ / Co 2+ and I 3 − /I − .…”