Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC) were fabricated using red Bougainvillea glabra flower dye extracts as natural dye sensitizers at three dye pH values of 1.23, 3.0 and 5.7. Water was used as dye extracting solvent. Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) from dye extract of pH 3.0 had the highest photocurrent density J of 3.72 mA/cm2 and fill factor FF of 0.59. While the DSSCs from dye sensitizer pHs of 1.23 and 5.7 had Jsc of 1.13 mA/cm2 and 2.27 mA/cm2, and fill factors of 0.43 and 0.61 respectively. The maximum powers Pmax of the DSSCs were 0.50, 1.64 and 0.94 mW/cm2 for dye sensitizer pH of 1.23, 3.0 and 5.7 respectively.
Natural dyes from flame tree flower, Pawpaw leaf and their mixtures were used as sensitizers to fabricate dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC). The photoelectrochemical performance of the Flame tree flower dye extract showed an open-circuit voltage (V<sub>OC</sub>) of 0.50 V, short-circuit current density (J<sub>SC</sub>) of 0.668 mA/cm<sup>2</sup>, a fill factor (FF) of 0.588 and a conversion efficiency of 0.20%. The conversion efficiency of the DSSCs prepared by pawpaw leaf extract was 0.20%, with V<sub>OC</sub> of 0.50 V; short-circuit current density, J<sub>SC</sub> of 0.649 mA/cm<sup>2</sup> and FF of 0.605. The conversion efficiency for the flame tree flower and pawpaw leaf dye mixture was 0.27%, with V<sub>OC</sub> of 0.518 V, J<sub>SC</sub> of 0.744 mA/cm<sup>2</sup> and FF of 0.69. Although the conversion efficiencies, Jsc and the Voc of the prepared dye cells were lower than the respective 1.185%, 7.49 mA/cm<sup>2</sup> and 0.64V reported for ruthenium, their fill factors (FF) were higher than that of ruthenium (0.497). It was also observed that both the short-circuit current density and the fill factors of the cells were enhanced using mixed dye
Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) comprising mesoporous TiO 2 films and betalain pigments extracted from red Bougainvillea glabra flower as natural dye sensitizers were fabricated and enhanced by the intercalation of the plasmonic silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) into the pores of mesoporous TiO 2 electrodes by successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) method. The TiO 2 / Ag NPs composite films were characterized by SEM and UV-Vis spectroscopy. I-V characteristics of the devices were measured by solar simulator (AM1.5 at 100 mW/ cm 2 ). The incorporation of the Ag nanoparticles into the pores of mesoporous TiO 2 electrodes with one SILAR deposition cycle of the Ag NPs produced the best plasmonic enhanced-DSSC giving a short-circuit current density (J sc ), fill factor (FF), and power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 1.01 mA cm -2 , 0.77, and 0.27 %, respectively. This development amounts to 50 % efficiency enhancement over the reference DSSC that had a short-circuit current density (J sc ), fill factor (FF), and power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 0.7 mA cm -2 , 0.57, and 0.18 %, respectively.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.