Potential investigation of combined natural dye pigments extracted from ivy gourd leaves, black glutinous rice and turmeric for dye-sensitised solar cell

Abstract

Environmental sustainability, resource availability, and cost-effectiveness are the driving forces behind the search for natural sensitised dyes to replace synthetic ones. Using a combination of pigments as the sensitised dye in dye-sensitised solar cells (DSSCs) offers several advantages over using a single pigment. In this present study, natural dyes with different pigments were extracted from three local plants: Coccinia grandis (Ivy gourd leaves, IGL), Oryza sativa Linn (Black glutinous rice, BGR), and Curcuma longa L. (Turmeric, TM). Each colour extract absorbed various wavelengths of light. It was found that the single IGL-dye (green) had a greater light absorption and energy band gap over visible light than other extracts (dyes). Then combinations of these dyes were examined. A sensitised dye combination with a primary to secondary dye in a volumetric ratio of 80/20 exhibited multiple energy band gaps, implying multiple electron excitations at different photon energy levels. Compared to other mixed dyes, IGL/TM-dye had the highest absorbance and electron excitation at three wavelengths with the smallest energy band gap values of 1.74, 2.51, and 2.59 eV. The IGL-dye had the highest DSSC efficiency of 0.15 % for single dyes, followed by the TM-dye and BGR-dye, which had 0.12 % and 0.04 %, respectively. Interestingly, for combined dyes, the IGL/TM dye increased DSSC efficiency to 0.3 %. Since natural dyes tend to be less effective in DSSCs than synthetic dyes because they have a narrower absorption range, higher redox potentials, shorter operational lifetimes, higher rates of electron recombination, and different molecular structures, the dye co-sensitization strategy is one of the best ways to make more effective cells in the future.