Natural Dyes for Dye sensitized solar cells
Igor Vasconcelos a, Francisco Lima a c, Alexandra Feitosa b, Ingrid Mendes b, Francisco Cavalcante b, Humberto Carmona b, Monica Lira-Cantu c
a Departamento de Engenharia Metalúrgica e de Materiais, Universidade Federal do Ceará,, Campus do Pici Bloco 714, Fortaleza, CE 60455-760, Brazil
b Universidade Estadual do Ceará., Av. Paranjana, 1700 - Campus do Itaperi, Fortaleza, CE 60714-903, Brazil
c Institut Catala de Nanotecnolgia, Campus de la UAB, Edifici ICN2 08193 Bellaterra, Spain
International Conference on Hybrid and Organic Photovoltaics
Proceedings of 6th International Conference on Hybrid and Organic Photovoltaics (HOPV14)
Ecublens, Switzerland, 2014 May 11th - 14th
Organizers: Michael Graetzel and Mohammad Nazeeruddin
Poster, Francisco Lima, 295
Publication date: 1st March 2014

Natural Dyes are interesting light harvesters for Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) because they are easy to obtain, are biodegradable, are abundant and environmentally friendly. Natural photosensitizers in DSCs have the potential to reach similar performances and stability as known for dyes based on metal complexes with the advantage of reduction of noble metal utilization and thus, lower cost. Various dyes have been analyzed over the last two decades as suitable sensitizers. Among them are anthocyanin, flavanoid, carotenoid, chlorophyll, among others. Calogero et al., reported efficiencies around 1.70 % for DSCs applying the Red Tunip Dye [1]. In the sensitization of a wide bang gap semiconductor like TiO2, the anthocyanine molecule is bonded to the oxide through the carbonyl and hydroxyl groups improving electron transfer [2]. In this work, natural dyes were extracted from three plants found in Northeastern Brazil: Nerium oleander, Durant repens and Solanum melongena (Eggplant peel), and were used as sensitizers to fabricate DSCs. Different characterization methods were employed to analyze the adsorption of the dyes on the TiO2 oxide electrode, among the most useful is the XPS/UPS analyses together with the optical properties of the films. The photoelectrochemical performance of these dyes on DSC showed open circuit voltages (Voc) between 0.48 V to 0.55 V, short circuit photocurrent densities (Jsc) from 0.50 mA/cm2 to 3.74 mA/cm2, and fill factors (FF) between 63.68 % and 73.55 %. The power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the DSC sensitized with the Nerium oleander reached 1.33 % this value is more than two times higher than the previously reported device [3-5]. Our work is the first study carried out for the evaluation of the natural dye Durant repens in DSCs which PCE reached 0.74%. The cells prepared with Solanum melongena (Eggplant peel), presents an efficiency of 0.20 %, with an average fill factor 71.88 %.



Calogero, G.; Marco, G. D.; Cazzanti, S.; Caramori, S.; Argazzi, R.; Carlo, A. D.; et al. Efficient dye-sensitezed solar cells using red turnip and turnip and purple wild Sicilian prickly pear fruits. International Journal of Molecular Sciences 2010, 11, 254-267. Hao, S.; Wu, J.; Huang, Y.; Lin, J. Natural dyes as photosinsetizers for dye-sensitized solar cell. Sol Energy 2006, 80, 209-214. Fernando, J. M. R. C.; Senadeera, G. K. R. Natural anthocyanins photosensitizers for dye-sensitized solar devices. Current Science 2008, 95, 663-666. Narayan, M. R. Review: Dye sensitized solar cells based on natural photosensitizers. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 2012, 16, 208-215. Ludin, N. A.; Mahmoud A. M. A. A.; Mohamad, A. B.; Kadhum A. A. H. K.; Sopian, K.; Karim, N. S. A. Review on the development of natural dye photosesitizer for dye sensitized solar cells. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 2014,31, 386-396.
© FUNDACIO DE LA COMUNITAT VALENCIANA SCITO
We use our own and third party cookies for analysing and measuring usage of our website to improve our services. If you continue browsing, we consider accepting its use. You can check our Cookies Policy in which you will also find how to configure your web browser for the use of cookies. More info