Kelebogile Maabong, Cosmas M Muiva, Philip Monowe, Stephen T Sathiaraj, Maren Hopkins, Leslie Nguyen, Keoratile Malungwa, Mosimanegape Thobega

Natural Pigments as Photosensitizers for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells With TiO2 Thin Films

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) were fabricated using four natural dyes extracted from the leaves of lemon (Citrus limon) and morula (Sclerocarya birrea) and flowers of bougainvillea (Bougainvillea glabra). Optical characteristics of the dye extract solutions and photoelectrochemical performance of the cells were studied. DSSC from lemon showed the highest current density of 1.08 mA/cm2 and highest solar energy conversion efficiency of 0.036 %. Natural pigments offer advantages of natural abundance, simplicity of preparation, low cost and environmental friendliness.

Keywords:

Dye-sensitized solar cell; natural dye; conversion efficiency,

PDF

___

Md. K. Nazeeruddin, E. Baranoff, and M. Grätzel, “Dye- sensitized solar cells: A brief overview”, Solar Energy, vol. 85, pp. 1172-1178, 2011.
B. O’Regan and M. Grätzel, “A low-cost, high-efficiency solar cell based on dye-sensitized colloidal TiO2films”, Nature, vol.353, pp. 737-740, 1991.
G.E. Tulloch, “Light and energy-dye solar cells for the 21st century”, Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology A: Chemistry, vol. 164, pp.209-219, 2004.
O. Shevaleevskiy, “The future of solar photovoltaics: A new challenge for chemical physics”, Pure Appl. Chem., vol. 80, pp. 2089, 2008.
M. Grätzel, “Conversion of sunlight to electric power by nanocrystalline dye-sensitized solar cells”, Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology A: Chemistry, vol. 164, pp. 14, 2004.
G.G.G.M.N. Hemamali and G.R.A. Kumara, “Dye-sensitized solid state solar cells sensitized with natural pigment extracted from the grapes”, International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, vol. 3, pp. 1-3, 2013.
S. Rani, P. Suri, P.K. Shishodia, and R.M. Mehra, “Synthesis of nanocrystalline ZnO powder via sol-gel route for dye-sensitized solar cells”, Solar Energy Materials & Solar Cells, vol. 92, pp. 1645, 2008.
D.-I. Suh, S.-Y. Lee, T.-H. Kim, J.-M. Chun, E.-K. Suh, O.-B. Yang and S.-K. Lee, “The fabrication and characterization of dye-sensitized solar cells with a branched structure of ZnO nanowires”, Chemical Physics Letters, vol. 442, pp. 348-353, K. Keis, E. Magnusson, H. Lindström, S.-E. Lindquist, and A. Hagfeldt, “A 5% efficient photoelectrochemical solar cell based on nanostructured ZnO electrodes”, Solar Energy Materials & Solar Cells, vol. 73, pp. 51-58, 2002.
A. Le Viet, R. Jose, M.V. Reddy, B.V.R. Chowdari, and S. Ramakrishna, “Nb2O5 photoelectrodes for dye-sensitized solar cells: Choice of the polymorph”, J. Phys. Chem. C, vol.114, pp. 21795-21800, 2010.
W.H. Lai, Y.H. Sub, L.G. Teoh, and M.H. Hon, “Commercial and natural dyes as photosensitizers for a water-based dye- sensitized solar cell loaded with gold nanoparticles”, Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology A: Chemistry, vol. 195, pp. 307-313, 2008.
M. Grätzel, “Dye-sensitized solar cells”, Review Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology C: Photochemistry Reviews, vol. 4, pp. 145-153, 2003.
A.C. Nwanya, P.E. Ugwuoke, P.M. Ejikeme, O.U. Oparaku, and F.I. Ezema, “Jathropha curcas and citrus aurantium leaves dye extract for use in dye sensitized solar cell with TiO2films”, Int. J. Electrochem. Sci., vol. 7, pp. 11219-11235,
K.F. Moustafa, M. Rekaby, E.T. El Shenawy, and N.M. Khattab, “Green dyes as photosensitizers for dye-sensitized solar cells”, Journal of Applied Sciences Research, vol. 8, pp. 4393-4404, 2012. G.P.
Smestad, “Education and solar conversion: Demonstrating electron transfer”, Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, vol. 55, pp. 157-178, 1998.
K.A. Aduloju and F. Ezema, “Effect of natural dye extracting temperature on the performances of dye- sensitized solar cells using petrocarpus erinaceus”, Archives of Physics Research, vol. 2, pp. 191-196, 2011.
J.O. Ozuomba, A.J. Ekpunobi, and P.I. Ekwo, “The viability of a natural dye extracted from pawpaw leaves as photosensitizer for dye-sensitized solar cells”, International Science Research Journal, vol. 3, pp. 3-5, 2011.
N. Li, N. Pan, D. Li, and S. Lin, “Natural dye-sensitized solar cells based on highly ordered TiO2 nanotube arrays”, International Journal of Photoenergy, vol. 2013, pp. 1-5,
L.U. Okoli, J.O. Ozuomba, and A.J. Ekpunobi, “Influence of local dye on the optical band-gap of titanium dioxide and its performance as a DSSC material”, Research Journal of Physical Sciences, vol. 1, pp. 6-10, 2013.
G.P. Smestad and M. Grätzel, “Demonstrating electron transfer and nanotechnology: A natural dye-sensitized nanocrystalline energy converter”, Journal of Chemical Education, vol. 75, pp. 752-756, 1998.
B.-Q. Liu, X.-P. Zhao, and W. Luo, “The synergistic effect of two photosynthetic pigments in dye-sensitized mesoporous TiO2 solar cells”, Dyes and Pigments, vol. 76, pp. 327-331, 2008.
M.K. Nazeeruddin, A. Kay, I. Rodicio, R. Humphry-Baker, E. Müller, P. Liska, N. Vlachopoulos, and M. Grätzel, “Conversion of light to electricity by cis-X2Bis(2,2ˈ- bipyridyl-4,4ˈ-dicarboxylate) ruthenium (II) charge transfer sensitizers (X = Clˉ, Brˉ, Iˉ, CNˉ, SCNˉ) on nanocrystalline TiO2 electrodes”, J. Am. Chem. Soc., vol. 115, pp. 6382- , 1993.
M.K. Nazeeruddin, P. Péchy, T. Renouard, S.M. Zakeeruddin, R. Humphry-Baker, P. Comte, P. Liska, L. Cevey, E. Costa, V. Shklover, L. Spiccia, G.B. Deacon, C.A. Bignozzi, and M. Grätzel, “Engineering of efficient panchromatic sensitizers for nanocrystalline TiO2-based solar cells”, J. Am. Chem. Soc., vol. 123, pp. 1613-1624,
M.K. Nazeeruddin, R. Humphry-Baker, P. Liska, and M. Grätzel, “Investigation of sensitizer adsorption and the influence of protons on current and voltage of a dye- sensitized nanocrystalline TiO2 solar cell”, J. Phys. Chem. B, vol. 107, pp. 8981-8987, 2003.
P. Wang, S.M. Zakeeruddin, J.-E. Moser, M.K. Nazeeruddin, T. Sekiguchi, and M. Grätzel, “A stable quasi- solid-state dye-sensitized solar cell with an amphiphilic ruthenium sensitizer and polymer gel electrolyte”, Nature Materials, vol. 2, pp. 402-407, 2003.
Z.-S. Wang, T. Yamaguchi, H. Sugihara, and H. Arakawa, “Significant efficiency improvement of the black dye- sensitized solar cell through protonation of TiO2 films”, Langmuir, vol. 21, pp. 4272-4276, 2005.
M.K. Nazeeruddin, F. De Angelis, S. Fantacci, A. Selloni, G. Viscardi, P. Liska, S. Ito, B. Takeru, and M. Grätzel, “Combined experimental and DFT-TDDFT computational study of photoelectrochemical cell ruthenium sensitizers”, J. Am. Chem. Soc., vol. 127, pp. 16835-16847, 2005.
Y. Chiba, A. Islam, Y. Watanabe, R. Komiya, N. Koide, and L. Han, “Dye-sensitized solar cells with conversion efficiency of 11.1%”, Japanese J. Appl. Phys., vol. 45, pp. 28, 2006.
D. Kuang, S. Ito, B. Wenger, C. Klein, J.-E. Moser, R. Humphry-Baker, S.M. Zakeeruddin, and M. Grätzel, “High molar extinction coefficient heteroleptic ruthenium complexes for thin film dye-sensitized solar cells”, J. Am. Chem. Soc., vol. 128, pp. 4146-4154, 2006.
F. Gao, Y. Wang, J. Zhang, D. Shi, M. Wang, R. Humphry- Baker, P. Wang, S.M. Zakeeruddin, and M. Grätzel, “A new heteroleptic ruthenium sensitizer enhances the absorptivity of mesoporous titania film for a high efficiency dye- sensitized solar cell”, Chem. Comm., Number 23, pp. 2635- , 2008.
F. Gao, Y. Wang, D. Shi, J. Zhang, M. Wang, X. Jing, R. Humphry-Baker, P. Wang, S.M. Zakeeruddin, and M. Grätzel, “Enhance the optical absorptivity of nanocrystalline TiO2 film with high molar extinction coefficient ruthenium sensitizers for high performance dye-sensitized solar cells”, J. Am. Chem. Soc., vol. 130, pp. 10720-10728, 2008.
S. Ito, T.N. Murakami, P. Comte, P. Liska, C. Grätzel, M.K. Nazeeruddin, and M. Grätzel, “Fabrication of thin film dye sensitized solar cells with solar to electric power conversion efficiency over 10%”, Thin Solid Films, vol. 516, pp. 4613- , 2008.
S.-Q. Fan, C. Kim, B. Fang, K.-X. Liao, G.-J. Yang, C.-J. Li, J.-J. Kim, and J. Ko, “Improved efficiency of over 10% in dye-sensitized solar cells with a ruthenium complex and an organic dye heterogeneously positioning on a single TiO2 electrode”, J. Phys. Chem. C, vol. 115, pp. 7747-7754, 2011.
T. Funaki, H. Funakoshi, O. Kitao, N. Onozawa- Komatsuzaki, K. Kusaga, K. Sayama, and H. Sugihara, “Cyclometalated ruthenium (II) complexes as near-IR sensitizers for high efficiency dye-sensitized solar cells”, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., vol. 51, pp. 7528-7531, 2012.
Y. Qin, and Q. Peng, “Ruthenium sensitizers and their applications in dye-sensitized solar cells”, International J. Photoenergy, doi: 10.1155/2012/291579, 2012