Photoelectrochemical Performance of Dye-sensitized Organic Photovoltaic Cells Based on Natural Pigments and Wide-bandgap Nanostructured Semiconductor

Four natural dyes, extracted from natural materials such as flowers, and leaves, were used as sensitizers to fabricate dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The photoelectrochemical performances of the DSSCs based on these dyes show that the open circuit voltages (VOC) varies from 0.433 to 0.470 V, and the short circuit photocurrent densities (JSC) ranges from 0.044 to 0.138 mAcm−2, the fill factors (FF) and the cell efficiencies () also vary from 0.400 to 0.570 and 0.021 to 0.065%, respectively. The DSSC sensitized with Hibiscus sabdariffa flowers extract was found to be superior to those obtained from other dyes. The DSSC gave a JSC of 0.138 mAcm-2, VOC of 0.470 V, FF of 0.504, and η of 0.065%. The sensitization performance related to interaction between the dye and TiO2 surface is discussed.