Tailoring of extraction solvent of Ixora coccinea flower to enhance charge transport properties in dye-sensitized solar cells

Abstract

We have tailored the extraction solvent of natural anthocyanin pigments from Ixora coccinea flower to lower charge transport resistance and enhance effective electron diffusion coefficient as well as absorption properties in DSSC sensitization. Six different extraction solvents were used in this study, namely, absolute ethanol, 70 % ethanol, acetone, dimethyl formamide, dimethyl sulfoxide, and distilled water. Dimethyl formamide was found to be able to extract the most anthocyanins from the Ixora flower, followed by dimethyl sulfoxide, acetone, absolute ethanol, 70 % ethanol, and distilled water, respectively. Dye-sensitized solar cells were fabricated using these extracted dyes as sensitizers and the cell performances were measured and characterized. The dye-sensitized solar cell equipped with a dye sensitizer extracted in 70 % ethanol achieved the highest conversion efficiency (ɳ=0.50±0.04 %) owing to its highest electron diffusion coefficient and lowest transport resistance in the TiO 2 /dye/electrolyte interface. This was followed by the cell equipped a with dye sensitizer extracted in acetone (ɳ=0.30±0.04 %), absolute ethanol (ɳ= 0.27±0.01 %), dimethyl formamide (ɳ=0.17±0.01 %), dimethyl sulfoxide (ɳ=0.16±0.01 %), and distilled water (ɳ= 0.09±0.003 %) in conversion efficiency performances, respectively. This study provides an insight into the importance of choosing the right medium for both dye extraction as well as the favorable solvent medium for dye adsorption onto TiO 2 .

Betalain and anthocyanin dye-sensitized solar cells

“…It consists of two peaks: one peak at a mid-frequency and the other at high-frequency region which corresponds to the effective lifetime of electrons on the TiO 2 /dye/electrolyte interface and the effective lifetime of electron on the Pt counter electrode, respectively. The peak frequencies are inversely proportional to electron life time [25]. Since the frequency at the high-frequency region is related to the charge transfer at the interface of electrolyte/Pt, the focus is on the characteristic peak at midfrequency region and the values are 194.8, 229.5, 218.1, and 236.4 Hz for O. dillenii, T. indica, mixture dye, and layer by layer co-sensitization solar cells, respectively.…”

“…Anthocyanin dye was extracted from Ixora Coccinea using 6 different solvents like absolute ethanol, 70 % ethanol, acetone, dimethylformamide, dimethyl sulfoxide, and water. The dye extracted using 70 % ethanol helps the device to achieve high electron density that leads to better efficiency of 0.50 % [25]. The effect of co-pigments like malic acid and ascorbic acid in anthocyanin dye from Mangosteen pericarp was studied by Munawaroh et al The co-pigmentation helped to protect the color retention of anthocyanin from degradation improving the efficiency from 0.19 % for anthocyanin to 0.30 % for anthocyanin ?…”

Potential of Betanin Natural Dye for Solar Cells Application

“…The uniform distribution of the sensitizing dye through the DSSC lm is an important parameter to study [22]. In order to investigate the betanin dye distribution through the prepared lms, we opted here to measure the color difference ΔE at equidistant points in the prepared Dye_TiO 2 lms sensitized under CV and US method.…”

Impact of solvents on the extraction and purification of vegetable dyes onto the efficiency for dye-sensitized solar cells

“…The performance of DSSC using vegetable dyes extracted in different solvents has been studied, and the reported results show that the performance does depend on the solvent properties such as polarity, acidity, dye combination, and temperature (Lim et al 2015;Warkkoyo 2011). The solubility of these vegetable dyes changes depending of the polarity of the extraction solvents, affecting the solubility and subsequently the adsorption behavior between the extracted dyes bonding onto TiO 2 surface, consequently affecting the cell PCE (Wongcharee et al 2007;Sreekala et al 2012).…”