Natural dye as light-harvesting pigments for quasi-solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells

Abstract

In this paper, quasi-solid-state dye-sensitized solar cell has been constructed based on natural photosensitizers extracted from the bracts of Bougainvillea spectabilis and the leaves of Euphorbia cotinifolia using acidified (0.1 M HCl) distilled water and ethanol separately. The absorption spectra of the extracts were performed in the spectral range from 395 to 750 nm. The cells were assembled using commercial TiO 2 powder film and PEDOT coated FTO glasses as working and counter electrodes, respectively, and also the quasi-solid electrolyte sandwiched in between. The Photovoltaic parameters such as short circuit current density (J sc ), open circuit voltage (V oc ), fill factor (FF), and overall conversion efficiency (g) for the as-prepared DSSC were determined under 100 mW/ cm 2 illuminations. The highest open circuit voltage (V oc = 0.549 V) and short circuit current density (J sc = 0.592 mA/cm 2 ) were obtained from the DSSCs assembled by natural dye extracted with the acidified ethanol of Bougainvillea spectabilis bracts and the leaves of Euphorbia cotinifolia, respectively. The highest power conversation efficiency (g) of the as-prepared DSSC assembled with natural dye extracted from Bougainvillea spectabilis bracts using acidified ethanol as extracting solvent was 0.175 %. The use of Bougainvillea spectabilis and Euphorbia cotinifolia pigments as natural sensitizers along with the use of quasi-solid electrolyte and PEDOT coated FTO counter electrodes could be a possible alternative for the production of low-cost and environment friendly DSSCs.

Silver Nanoparticles as Artificial Antennas for Enhanced Light-Harvesting and Charge Transfer in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

“…Figure 3 shows the absorbance of the natural dye within the wavelength range of 400-700 nm. The pigment is observed to have three peaks at 410 nm, 460 nm and 660 nm which ascertain the presence of betalain pigment [39]. The absorption at the visible region is indicative that this natural extract meets the requirement for its use as light harvesting pigment in this research.…”

Pengaruh Konsentrasi Nikel dalam Klorofil pada Sifat Optik dan Konduktivitas Dye untuk Aplikasi Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell (DSSC)

“…Salah satu faktor yang memengaruhi performa DSSC adalah dye. Dye berperan dalam menyerap dan mengkonversi energi surya menjadi energi listrik [7][8][9].…”

Recent advances in anthocyanin dyes extracted from plants for dye sensitized solar cell

“…Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) got attentions of researchers as a promising low-cost solar cell technology since their discovery in 1991 [1][2][3][4][5][6] due to their simple preparation procedure, eco-friendly [7], good performance under diffuse light conditions, reasonably good power conversion efficiency [8,9], colorful natures, and low production cost [11][12]. DSSCs are based on the sensitizing nanocrystalline metal oxide films to visible light through the adsorption of regenerative dyes [13]. The first manufactured DSSC was found to absorb visible light up to about 800 nm and the energy conversion efficiency reached 7.1% [15][16].…”

“…Upon illumination, the dye molecule adsorbed on TiO 2 films absorbs photons of wavelength corresponding to the energy difference between its highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) and lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) [8,21]. Numerous dyes extracted from different inorganic and organic sources are utilized as sensitizers [13,14,22]. Due to their advantages such as high efficiency, excellent stability, wide absorption bands in the visible region, excellent electron injection and efficient metal-to-ligand charge transfer, ruthenium-based complexes are considered to be the most efficient sensitizers [24][25].…”