Effects of multilayer coating and calcination procedures on the morphology of dye-sensitized solar cell semiconductor photoelectrodes

Optimizing a Simple Natural Dye Production Method for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells: Examples for Betalain (Bougainvillea and Beetroot Extracts) and Anthocyanin Dyes

“…Efficiency values are similar to those obtained in our previous works [37,38,41] and in literature, see for example some tables comparing NDSSC and references therein [3,[7][8][9][13][14][15][16]60]. Artificial dye N719 gives higher efficiency than natural dyes, but lower than values found in literature.…”

“…The different bougainvillea extracts achieved similar efficiencies (0.16% to 0.19%) no matter what bract color, which is due to the presence of different betalain groups and in different proportions. Red-purple bracts extracts gave also efficiencies of the same order or up to (0.29 ± 0.02) % in our previous works, and the small differences found were due to other factors like film thickness, surfactant used in paste preparation, and porosity of the semiconductor film [38,41].…”

“…To determine the electrical parameters, at least three cells for each natural dye extract were built, and I-V curves were measured to verify the reliability of data and the whole fabrication method. The detailed procedures for cell assembly and measurements are described elsewhere [37,38,41]…”

“…After previous simple preparation (select, dry, crush), the vegetable material in the solution was stirred (800 rpm) for 24 h and the residue was eliminated by centrifugation. See Refs [37,38,41] for details. Different filtering processes and different concentrations have also been tested before determining dye extract spectra.…”

Promoting Effect of TiCl4 Pre-Coating Time on TiO2 Semiconductors on Double Layer Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell

“…It is generally accepted that semiconductor nanoparticles have the highest surface area and are the best at optimally absorbing dye molecules. However, because the required connections for electrons are diminished and dispersed randomly, these structures decrease the mobility of electrons from one particle to another [7]. Materials such as Nickel (II) Oxide (NiO), Titanium Oxide (TiO2), and Zinc Oxide (ZnO) make up DSSC semiconductors [8].…”