Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), which are proposed as a substitute for silicon crystalline solar cells, have received considerable attention in the recent decade. They could be produced from inexpensive materials through low-cost processes. In the current work, a bio-sensitized solar cell is designed using abundant, cheap, and nontoxic materials. Bacteriorhodopsin and bacterioruberin are two natural biomolecules found in the cytoplasmic membrane of Halobacterium salinarum. These two pigments were immobilized on nanoporous titanium dioxide films successfully and employed as molecular sensitizers in DSSC with efficient photocurrent generation. The photovoltaic performance of DSSCs based on bacteriorhodopsin and bacterioruberin sensitizers was investigated. Under AM1.5 irradiation a short-circuit current of 0.45 mA cm(-2) , open circuit voltages of 0.57 V, fill factor of 0.62, and an overall energy conversion efficiency of 0.16% are achieved by employing a mixture of biomolecules as a sensitizer.
Bacteriorhodopsin (bR) is a photoactive protein that has great potential to be used in bioelectronics applications. For the first time, a monolayer of bR created by the Langmuir-Blodgett method is immobilized on a ZnO nanoporous film. Scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy analyses are used to study the morphological properties of the electrodes. In addition, an efficient biosolar cell is designed and fabricated, and the performance of produced nano-biohybrid electrode is investigated by the measurement of power conversion efficiency of biosolar cell. Under AM1.5 irradiation, a short-circuit current of 0.39 mA cm(-2) , open-circuit voltages of 0.5 V, fill factor of 0.52, and an overall energy conversion efficiency of 0.1% are achieved.
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