Natural Dyes as Photosensitizers for Dye-sensitized Solar Cells

Authors Hatem S. El-Ghamri1,2, Sofyan A. Taya1,2 , Taher M. El-Agez1,2 , Amal M. Al-Kahlout3, Naji Al Dahoudi3, Monzir S. Abdel-Latif2,4
Affiliations

1 Physics Department, Islamic University of Gaza, Gaza, Palestinian Authority

2 Renewable Energy Center, Islamic University of Gaza, Gaza, Palestinian Authority

3 Physics Department, Al Azhar University, Gaza, Palestinian Authority

4 Chemistry Department, Islamic University of Gaza, Gaza, Palestinian Authority

Е-mail staya@iugaza.edu.ps
Issue Volume 7, Year 2015, Number 3
Dates Received 06 June 2015; revised manuscript received 20 July 2015; published online 20 October 2015
Citation Hatem S. El-Ghamri, Sofyan A. Taya, Taher M. El-Agez, et al., J. Nano- Electron. Phys. 7 No 3, 03001 (2015)
DOI
PACS Number(s) 84.60.Jt
Keywords Dye-sensitized solar cell (3) , Natural dye, ZnO (88) .
Annotation Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) were assembled using Zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles as a photoelectrode and natural dyes extracted from eight natural plants as photosensitizers. The structural properties of the synthesized ZnO nanoparticles were studied using XRD, SEM and TEM characterizations. Photovoltaic parameters such as short circuit current density Jsc, open circuit voltage Voc, fill factor FF, and overall conversion efficiency η for the fabricated cells were determined under 100 mW/cm2 illumination. It was found that the DSSC fabricated with the extracted safflower dye as a sensitizer showed the best performance. Also, its performance increased with increasing the sintering temperature of the semiconductor electrode with highest performance at 400 °C. Moreover, it was found that a semiconductor electrode of 7.5 μm thickness yielded the highest response.

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