This study has explored a new plant source, Bael tree leaves, as an efficient dye extraction towards green energy harvesting through dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The photosensitizers, photo-absorption, bandgap, and ionic conductivity characteristics of the extracted dye were determined using thin-layer chromatography (TLC), ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, Tauc plot, and conductivity meter, respectively. Chlorophyll is the main constituent in the extracted dye confirmed by TLC analysis. An optimum concentration (0.2 g ml−1) with ionic conductivity of 455 μS cm−1 of the dye was used as a photoactive layer in DSSC, demonstrating power densities of 1.345 μW m−2 and 8.078 μW m−2 under the illumination of the LED lamp (1555 lx) and tungsten bulb (1926 lx), respectively. Additional parameters, including fill factor (0.26), ideality factor (1.25), characteristic resistance (309 Ω), series resistance (313 Ω), and shunt resistance (662 Ω) of the fabricated DSSC under tungsten illumination reveal that the novel Bael tree leaves-based dye can harvest green energy efficiently through DSSCs.
In this work, wood apple leaves dye has been extracted, characterized, and examined as a potential photosensitizer for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The dye was extracted in an ethanolic medium from the fresh wood apple leaves and characterized using thin-layer chromatography (TLC), ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis), and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The current density-voltage (J-V) characteristics measurements were performed on the two assembled DSSCs for 1- 22 days using fresh and seven days old extracted dye. The characterization results revealed that the extracted dye mainly contains the compound of carotenoids (neoxanthin), chlorophyll-a, chlorophyll-b, and their derivative (pheophytin) with various functional groups. The J-V characteristics of DSSCs indicate that an open-circuit voltage and short circuit current density radically decrease with increasing time, thus degrading the efficiency of cells. A degraded DSSCs suffered from high defect recombination may be induced by Mg ions migrating from chlorophyll dye into DSSC. Therefore, the extracted dye may be used for energy harvesting from the wood apple leaves.
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