Comparative study of natural and synthetic dyes in DSSCs: An experimental and computational approach
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Date
2024
Authors
Journal Title
Physica B: Condensed Matter
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Elsevier B.V.
Abstract
This study explores the natural and synthetic dyes as sensitizers for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Anthocyanin dye extract (PG) from pomegranate (Punica granatum) fruit, betanin pigment (BR) from beetroot (Beta vulgaris), and the commercially available organic dye, Rose Bengal (RB), were investigated as sensitizers for DSSCs and their photovoltaic performances were recorded. Density functional theory (DFT) and time-dependent DFT (TD-DFT) studies have also been performed in order to get insight into the photophysical and photoelectrochemical properties. The overall efficiencies (?) of 0.34%, 0.30%, and 0.25% were obtained for the PG, BR, and RB dyes under 1 sun illumination, respectively. The results infer that PG dye would act as a promising photo-sensitizer for DSSCs as compared to BR and RB sensitizers, which may be due to better interaction between anthocyanin molecule of pomegranate extract and TiO2. � 2024 Elsevier B.V.
Description
Keywords
Anthocyanin, Betalains, Density functional theory, Dye-sensitized solar cells, Xanthane