Performance enhancement of natural pigments on a high light transmission ZrO₂nanoparticle layer in a water-based dye-sensitized solar cell

Abstract

SUMMARY A coating of ZrO2 nanoparticles on an indium tin oxide (ITO) substrate in an alcohol and acetic acid solution forms voids that can be used to tune the effective dielectric constant of mixing layers. After tuning to be between the dielectric constant of ITO (2.5–2.0) and air (~1), the light transmission was enhanced by about eight times. A ZrO2 nanoparticle layer with high light transmission was thus fabricated for a natural pigment‐sensitized solar cell. In order to set up an environmentally friendly dye‐sensitized solar cell, a water‐based electrolyte was used. The efficiency of the green part of Codiaeum varie pigment on the ZrO2 nanoparticle layer was 0.688%. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Aqueous dye-sensitized solar cells

“…252,253 Despite the efficiencies obtained are still lower compared to the reference Ru-based dyes, thanks to their low cost and ready availability, these pigments are nowadays very much considered by those research groups who are focused on the development of the so-called biophotovoltaic devices. 181,254,255 In Section 8, the very recent work of Su and Lai on natural pigments coupled with alternative redox mediators has been mentioned, 178 but the very first demonstration of the good compatibility between pigments and water was provided by Rabani and coworkers. 256 In 2001, they exploited the promising prospects as a sensitizer of the seed coats of the pomegranate (PG) fruit, which is a rich source of anthocyanins.…”

Entangled spintronic modulated high‐performance Ce 2 O 3 small polaron surface state‐based water splitting cells

“…Water pollution 1,2 is one of the unstoppable environmental pollutions in the world when the population and industries are nearly uncontrollable growing. Many scientists put their efforts 3 into finding out the renewable materials or recyclable energy systems [4][5][6] for solving the problems of environmental pollution 7 and the high energy consumption. 8,9 Since pure water and electric power are the products of fuel cells, 10 water splitting cells have been designed to provide hydrogen and oxygen gases by splitting waste water, 9,11,12 which is seen as the best solution for solving the problems of water pollutions and replacing the fossil energy.…”

A Review on Plant Extract Mediated Green Synthesis of Zirconia Nanoparticles and Their Miscellaneous Applications

“…However, ZrO2 NPs is a known ptype semiconductor with piezoelectric characteristics due to its acidic and basic nature. Therefore, ZrO2 NPs have been widely used in myriad applications ( Figure 1), including bone implants [32], dental [33], photocatalysis, refractory, energy [26], fuel cell [34], gas sensor [35], solar cells [36], and seed germination [37]. Therewithal ZrO2 NPs have antibacterial, antifungal, antioxidant and anticancer properties because of their unusual physiochemical properties [37][38][39].…”