Title: Performances of natural dye-sensitised solar cells - a brief review

Authors: K.T. Arulmozhi; Mythili Narayanan; Sheelarani Rajasekaran

Addresses: Department of Physics, Annamalai University, Tamil Nadu – 608 002, India ' Department of Physics, Annamalai University, Tamil Nadu – 608 002, India ' Department of Physics, Annamalai University, Tamil Nadu – 608 002, India

Abstract: Dye-sensitised solar cells (DSCs), also called as photoelectrochemical cells, have the potential of commercial viability and are the most promising photovoltaic devices among the new generation of renewable energy systems. The dye used is responsible for the light harvesting efficiency and electron injection efficiency of the DSC. Vast amount of work has been done on the performance of DSCs with organic, inorganic and variety of dyes including natural dyes. Around 20% of the cost of the DSC is consumed by the dye. In attempts to reduce the cost of the DSC, natural dyes derived from leaves, fruits and flowers of plants have been used even though they obtained overall efficiency has reached only 3%. In this review article, the performances of the natural dye-sensitised solar cells extracted from earlier works are summarised and presented with due references.

Keywords: dye-sensitised solar cells; DSC; natural pigments; absorption wavelength; overall conversion efficiency; natural dyes; photoelectrochemical cells; photovoltaics; light harvesting efficiency; electron injection efficiency.

DOI: 10.1504/IJRET.2014.063016

International Journal of Renewable Energy Technology, 2014 Vol.5 No.3, pp.197 - 216

Received: 22 Jun 2013
Accepted: 05 Nov 2013
Published online: 26 Jul 2014 *

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