Abstract
ABSTRACT In this work, plant dyes extracted from Amazon Forest are applied as a sensitizer in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells. The selected plants were Euterpe oleracea, Arrabidaea chica, Bixa orellana, Genipa Americana, and Myrcia sylvatica, and the dyes were collected from fruits, leaves, seeds, pulp and seeds and stalk scrapings respectively. Characterization studies by the UV-vis spectroscopy made it possible to know the absorption spectra of each plant dye, and the X-ray diffraction technique allows the structural characterization of the nanostructured semiconductor layer. The solar cells were characterized according to their efficiency parameters (Voc, Jsc, FF and ? (%)), obtained from the current vs voltage curves. Such parameters proved to be modest, presenting Voc and Jsc values over 0.334 volts and 0.452 mA/cm2 for a photosensitized cell with the dyes extracted from Genipa americana. In this way, it was possible to verify the photoelectrochemical potential of the dyes extracted from plants of the Amazon Forest.
Highlights
The yearning for new and less polluting, environment-friendly energy sources has driven research growth in pursuit of alternative energy in recent decades
The pigments are responsible for ensuring the current density in the cell, and the importance of the investigation since the absorption region influences considerably the final performance of the device [20]. It is noted in theme-related works that pigments with light absorption in the intermediate region of the visible spectrum are those with the highest energy conversion efficiency [20,21,22,23,24]
The work presents the manufacture and characterization of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells (DSSCs) sensitized with plant dyes from Amazon Forest
Summary
The yearning for new and less polluting, environment-friendly energy sources has driven research growth in pursuit of alternative energy in recent decades. Despite the growing advance related to clean technologies, global energy demand is currently still supplied, in a greater percentage, by fossil fuels (non-renewable), reaching 81.1% in the global energy matrix [1, 2]. Due to its high potential, solar energy presents itself as one of the most promising alternatives. Even though the estimate is encouraging, the photovoltaic market is represented mainly by mono and polycrystalline silicon solar cell technologies that have an estimated production cost of US$0,23/W. Many developing countries do not have this renewable source of energy due to its commercialization. The discoveries of new materials and technologies with low environmental impact, national sources is a way to lower cost prices [4,5,6]
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