Low cost ‘green’ dye sensitized solar cells based on New Fuchsin dye with aqueous electrolyte and platinum-free counter electrodes

Kokal, Ramesh K and Melepurath, D and Raavi, Sai Santosh Kumar and et al, . (2019) Low cost ‘green’ dye sensitized solar cells based on New Fuchsin dye with aqueous electrolyte and platinum-free counter electrodes. Solar Energy, 188. pp. 913-923. ISSN 0038092X

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Abstract

In this work, we present the application of a inexpensive water-soluble New Fuchsin (NF) dye as a photosensitizer for dye sensitized solar cells (DSSC). A comprehensive study including computational, spectroscopy and cyclic voltammetry measurements established the efficacy of NF as a photosensitizer. Density functional theory (DFT) modelling of NF is performed to estimate the energy levels and experimentally verified using the cyclic voltammetry measurements. For the spectroscopy characterization time-resolved absorption and fluorescence studies are employed on NF in ethanol solution and as thin film deposited on glass and mesoporous TiO2. Femtosecond transient absorption measurements revealed ultrafast electron injection within <1 ps at the interface of NF and TiO2. NF sensitized solar cells were fabricated and optimised using various liquid electrolytes and carbon-based counter electrodes. The fabricated devices were further characterized using electro-impedance spectroscopy and Mott-Schottky measurements. The best-performing device with photo-conversion efficiency of 2.9% was obtained using aqueous Fe3+/Fe2+ electrolyte and CoS treated carbon fabric. These components are non-toxic and economical resulting in the fabrication of low cost and eco-friendly “green”solar cells.

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