Natural Dye from Plant in the Application for DSSC

This study is based on the extraction of a photonsensitizer from plant for use as a light sensor in a DSSC dye-sensitized solar cell. According to the FT IR spectra, the dye represents the existing carboxyl group corresponding to the CO=OH stretching vibrations, which is an important functional group that exhibits a reversible bond with a high equilibrium binding constant that enables the photosensitizer to be established with the TiO₂ surface in DSSC. The electrical performance of the cell, such as short-circuit current density (JSC), open-circuit voltage (VOC), fill factor (FF) and overall conversion efficiency (η), was also investigated via measurement of the current-voltage characteristic, as well as the light absorption of the dye loaded onto the TiO₂ film. The resulting study showed that a higher ratio of active compound and greater interaction between dye and TiO₂ will lead to higher conversion efficiencies.