Abstract

Ateyyah M. AL-Baradi

DOI : http://dx.doi.org/10.13005/ojc/360422

This work is concerned with the improvement of the use of natural dyes in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Red cabbage dye has been extracted and used to fabricate DSSCs with and without the addition of NaCl salt. The absorption of the extracted dye as a function of salt concentration has been investigated by spectrophotometer showing an increase of the absorption intensity with increasing the ionic strength due to the aggregation of the dye molecules. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) has been utilised to observe the bonding effect in the extracted dye upon the addition of salt. The FTIR spectra have shown a shift towards a higher wavenumber at the O-H stretching vibration indicating the aggregation caused by the addition of salt ions. The photovoltaic performance of the DSSCs based on red cabbage dye as a function of salt concentration has been studied. The overall power conversion efficiency has been found to increase from 0.03% to 0.20% with increasing the salt concentration up to 5M.

Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells; Efficiency Improvement; Ionic Strength Effect; Natural Dyes; Red Cabbage

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