Butea monosperma, crown of thorns, red lantana camara and royal poinciana flowers extract as natural dyes for dye sensitized solar cells with improved efficiency

Abstract

The cost-effective and eco-friendly natural dyes are sustainable alternatives to synthetically prepared ruthenium-based dyes. This study aims to explore the effect of natural dyes extracted from four different flowers on improving solar cell efficiency. The natural dyes are extracted from butea monosperma (BM), crown of thorns (CT), red lantana camara (RL) and royal poinciana flowers (RP). The dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) were constructed using TiO2 nanorods (NRs) and light-harvesting natural dyes. Highly ordered and vertically oriented TiO2 NRs arrays were synthesized on FTO substrate and used as photoanode to fabricate natural dye based DSSCs. TiO2 NRs facilitate the infiltration of the liquid-state electrolyte and good binding with dye molecules

their one-dimensional structural feature provides effective charge transport. A significant improvement in the photo conversion efficiency (PCE) of TiO2 NRs sensitized and light-harvesting natural dye-based DSSCs has been observed. The structural, morphological, and optical properties of the TiO2 photoanode as well as the optical properties of the extracted dyes were studied using characterization techniques. The PCE of DSSCs based on natural dye extracts from BM, CT, RL and RP flowers were observed to be 2.89%, 1.20%, 1.02% and 0.72%, respectively. This work reports the highest PCE (2.89%) to date for DSSC fabricated using BM flower-based natural dyes

therefore, it can be a sustainable alternative to synthetic dyes. © 2023 Elsevier Ltd