Growth and Characterization of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells using Dyes from Mangifera Indica, Manihot Esculenta and Hibiscus Sabdariffa Leaves by Sol-Gel Technique

Abstract

Three natural dyes, extracted from leaves of mangifera indica, manihot esculenta and hibiscus sabdariffa were used as sensitizers to fabricate dye-sensitized solar cells. The Sensitization performance related to interaction between the dyes and titanium (iv) oxide (Ti02) surface were evaluated under 100mW/cm2 light intensity. The photoelectrical performance of the DSSCs based on these dyes show that the V0c ranged from 0.300 to 0.477V and Jsc was in the range of 0.00011 to 0.0102mA/cm2. The DSSC sensitized with mangifera indica leave extract offered the best photosensitization effect, and had the highest photoelectrochemical performance. The SEM result TiO2 sample revealed that the surface of the TiO2 was porous with particle agglomeration. The EDX showed quantitative results and elements present as titania (70.33, weight %), oxygen (15.30, weight %), nitrogen (10.24, weight %) and carbon (4.13, weight %).