Growth and Characterization of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells using Dyes from Mangifera Indica, Manihot Esculenta and Hibiscus Sabdariffa Leaves by Sol-Gel Technique

Abstract

Three natural dyes, extracted from leaves of mangifera indica, manihot esculenta and hibiscus sabdariffa were used as sensitizers to fabricate dye-sensitized solar cells. The Sensitization performance related to interaction between the dyes and titanium (iv) oxide (Ti0₂) surface were evaluated under 100mW/cm² light intensity. The photoelectrical performance of the DSSCs based on these dyes show that the V_0c ranged from 0.300 to 0.477V and J_sc was in the range of 0.00011 to 0.0102mA/cm². The DSSC sensitized with mangifera indica leave extract offered the best photosensitization effect, and had the highest photoelectrochemical performance. The SEM result TiO₂ sample revealed that the surface of the TiO₂ was porous with particle agglomeration. The EDX showed quantitative results and elements present as titania (70.33, weight %), oxygen (15.30, weight %), nitrogen (10.24, weight %) and carbon (4.13, weight %).