TITLE:
Photoelectric Characterization of Dye Sensitized Solar Cells Using Natural Dye from Pawpaw Leaf and Flame Tree Flower as Sensitizers
AUTHORS:
Mohammed Isah Kimpa, Musa Momoh, Kasim Uthman Isah, Hassan Nawawi Yahya, Muhammed Muhammed Ndamitso
KEYWORDS:
Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells; Flame Tree Flower; Pawpaw Leaf; Dye Cocktails; Natural Dyes
JOURNAL NAME:
Materials Sciences and Applications,
Vol.3 No.5,
May
22,
2012
ABSTRACT: Natural dyes from flame tree flower, Pawpaw leaf and their mixtures were used as sensitizers to fabricate dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC). The photoelectrochemical performance of the Flame tree flower dye extract showed an open-circuit voltage (VOC) of 0.50 V, short-circuit current density (JSC) of 0.668 mA/cm2, a fill factor (FF) of 0.588 and a conversion efficiency of 0.20%. The conversion efficiency of the DSSCs prepared by pawpaw leaf extract was 0.20%, with VOC of 0.50 V; short-circuit current density, JSC of 0.649 mA/cm2 and FF of 0.605. The conversion efficiency for the flame tree flower and pawpaw leaf dye mixture was 0.27%, with VOC of 0.518 V, JSC of 0.744 mA/cm2 and FF of 0.69. Although the conversion efficiencies, Jsc and the Voc of the prepared dye cells were lower than the respective 1.185%, 7.49 mA/cm2 and 0.64V reported for ruthenium, their fill factors (FF) were higher than that of ruthenium (0.497). It was also observed that both the short-circuit current density and the fill factors of the cells were enhanced using mixed dye.