Vegetable-based dye-sensitized solar cells

Abstract

There is currently a large effort to improve the performance of low cost renewable energy devices. Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) are emerging as one of the most promising low cost photovoltaic technologies, addressing "secure, clean and efficient solar energy conversion". Vegetable dyes, extracted from algae, flowers, fruit and leaves, can be used as sensitizers in DSSCs. Thus far, anthocyanin and betalain extracts together with selected chlorophyll derivatives are the most successful vegetable sensitizers. This review analyses recent progress in the exploitation of vegetable dyes for solar energy conversion and compares them to the properties of synthetic dyes. We provide an in-depth discussion on the main limitation of cell performance e.g. dye degradation, effective electron injection from the dye into the conduction band of semiconducting nanoparticles, such as titanium dioxide and zinc oxide, outlining future developments for the use of vegetable sensitizers in DSSCs. We also discuss the cost of vegetable dyes and how their versatility can boost the advancement of new power management solutions, especially for their integration in living environments, making the practical application of such systems economically viable. Finally, we present our view on future prospects in the development of synthetic analogues of vegetable dyes as sensitizers in DSSCs.

Energy levels of natural sensitizers extracted from rengas (Gluta spp.) and mengkulang (Heritiera elata) wood for dye-sensitized solar cells

“…However, metal complex such as Ruthenium and Zinc porphyrin dye have been reported to achieve better performance which are 12-13% efficiency as compared to others [6][7][8][9][10]. However, the costing and synthesis issues have leads to intense interest to use other than metal complex sensitizers even though the performance of other type of sensitizer are still considered low [11].…”

Dynamics of Interfacial Electron Transfer from Betanin to Nanocrystalline TiO2: The Pursuit of Two-Electron Injection

“…Consequently, there is much interest in replacing synthetic sensitizers with organic pigments derived from plants. 5 One-electron oxidation of organic compounds, on the other hand, results in the formation of free radicals, which can pose stability problems for the solar cell. In the present work, we explore the question of harnessing the proton-coupled two-electron oxidation of a plant-based dye sensitizer, betanin, which we 6−8 and others 9−11 have previously used in TiO 2 -based dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs).…”

A perspective on using experiment and theory to identify design principles in dye-sensitized solar cells

“…The combination of these factors makes these dyes less desirable for the industrial production of DSC devices [24]. These problems have led to the development of many new organic dyes including triarylamines [25–27], coumarins [28], cyanines [29], indolines [30,31], squaraines [32–34], quinoxalines [35] and natural dyes [36]. These organic dyes are designed with a donor-ᴨ-linker-acceptor (D-π-A) structural arrangement, and absorb in the same region as Ru-by dyes.…”