Fabrication of natural dye-sensitized solar cells using barbados cherry fruit and purple shamrock leaves

Abstract

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) have received a significant attraction due to their simple structure and low manufacturing cost. Generally, ruthenium-based compounds are used as the effective sensitizers in DSSCs due to their higher absorption and efficient metal-to- ligand charge transfer. However, ruthenium-based compounds are relatively expensive and rare. In recent years, natural dyes have gained attention due to non-toxicity, low cost, environmental friendliness, and availability. In this work, DSSCs were fabricated using natural dyes extracted from Barbados cherry fruit (Malpighia emarginata), and purple shamrock leaves (Oxalis triangularis). These extracted dyes were characterized by UV– VIS absorption spectra and FTIR spectroscopy. The photovoltaic parameters of the DSSC using Barbados cherry dye recorded with a power conversion efficiency of 0.936% along with an open circuit voltage (VOC) of 429 mV, a short circuit current density (JSC) of 4.258 mA cm-2 and a fill factor of 0.512. DSSC using purple shamrock leaves recorded as 372 mV of Voc, 1.624 mA cm-2 of JSC and a fill factor of 0.561 with a power conversion efficiency of 0.339%. A DSSC formed with a Ruthenium-based dye under the same conditions obtained 588 mV of Voc, 20.120 mA cm-2 of JSC and 0.352 fill factor along with 4.162% power conversion efficiency. This research highlights the potential of natural dyes as viable alternatives to ruthenium-based dyes in DSSCs.