Natural Pigments from Plants Used as Sensitizers for TiO2Based Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Abstract

Four natural pigments, extracted from the leaves of teak (Tectona grandis), tamarind (Tamarindus indica), eucalyptus (Eucalyptus globulus), and the flower of crimson bottle brush (Callistemon citrinus), were used as sensitizers for TiO2based dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The dyes have shown absorption in broad range of the visible region (400–700 nm) of the solar spectrum and appreciable adsorption onto the semiconductor (TiO2) surface. The DSSCs made using the extracted dyes have shown that the open circuit voltages (Voc) varied from 0.430 to 0.610 V and the short circuit photocurrent densities (Jsc) ranged from 0.11 to 0.29 mA cm−2. The incident photon-to-current conversion efficiencies (IPCE) varied from 12–37%. Among the four dyes studied, the extract obtained from teak has shown the best photosensitization effects in terms of the cell output.