Nephelium mutabile dye as sensitizer for natural dye sensitized solar cell
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Date
2019-07
Authors
Malathi A/P Karthigesu
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Abstract
Natural dye sensitized solar cell (NDSSC) was inspired by the energy and electron transfer mechanisms in natural photosynthesis. Skin of Nephelium Mutabile was extracted as a dye by boiling in ethanol at 60°C for 30 minutes in this research as it has the highest absorption comparing to the extraction of dye when immersed in ethanol for 24 hours, 48 hours and 72 hours. In this study, deposition of ZnO using hydrothermal method and deposition of ZnO nanocrystallites using Successive Ionic Layer Absorption and Reduction (SILAR) method on photoanodes were done. X-ray Diffraction Analysis (XRD) was performed and was able to identify the hexagonal wurtzite present for ZnO. TiO2 was deposited onto photoanode by using doctor-blade technique. Photocathodes of platinum paste, silver paint and graphite were investigated on their efficiency using Current Density-Voltage (J-V) Measurement. The efficiency obtained for ZnO nanorods for 1 hour growth time with silver photocathode was the highest, 6.32 x 10-4 % compared with platinum paste, 5.85 x 10-4 % and graphite, 0.372 x 10-4 %. ZnO nanocrystallites produced by SILAR method with 20 seconds for 50 cycles resulted in efficiency of 4.74 x 10-4 % with silver photocathode while for platinum paste and graphite are 4 x 10-4 % and 2.23 x 10-4 % respectively. TiO2 photoanode with silver photocathode gave 37.5 x 10-4 % which were higher than with platinum paste, 14.8 x 10-4 % and graphite, 4.74 x 10-4 %. Optimum growth time for ZnO nanorods by hydrothermal method and optimum number of cycles for ZnO nanocrystallites by SILAR method were figured out. Silver photocathode has the potential to replace the expensive platinum paste.