DYE-SENSITIZED SOLAR CELL USING USED SEMICONDUCTOR GLASS AND NATURAL DYE: TOWARDS ALTERNATIVE ENERGY CHALLENGE

Abstract

Solar energy is an abundant and accessible source of
renewable energy available on earth, and many types of
photovoltaic (PV) devices like organic, inorganic, and
hybrid cells have been developed to harness the energy.
Dye Sensitized Solar Cell (DSSC) is considered to be
one of the most promising technological developments
in the field of Solar Cells. The nanocrystalline thin
films like TiO2 have various applications, among them
dye-sensitized solar cells are more promising and lowcost alternative to conventional inorganic photovoltaic
devices. We have sensitized TiO2 nanocrystalline thin
films with the natural dye anthocyanin and malvidin- 3-
fructoside from raspberry and grape fruits, respectively.
In this work we have also reported the interaction
between the semiconductor and the dye as natural
photosensitizer and studied its sensitization and Photo
electrochemical activities. Dye-sensitized solar cells
produce electricity through electron transfer. Sunlight
passes through the conductive glass electrode. We get
the efficiency of summer and rainy season at room
temperature 12.3942%, 11.7326% and the sunlight
16.5557%, 11.9735% respectively with series
connection by using 19.3548 cm2 surface area of dyesensitized solar cell. The solar intensity was about 300
W/m2 inside the room during the all measurements.
This paper also provides a comprehensive
understanding on the behaviors of TiO2 in DSSC from
the conduction band shift and the mechanism of
electron injection, transfer and recombination and a
promising strategy to explore high efficiency DSSC.