Study the performance of photogalvanic cells for solar energy conversion and storage: Rose Bengal– d-Xylose–NaLS system

Abstract

The Rose Bengal is used as photosensitizer with d-Xylose as reductant and sodium lauryl sulphate (NaLS) as surfactant for the enhancement of the conversion efficiency and storage capacity of photogalvanic cell for its commercial viability. The observed value of the photogeneration of photopotential was 885.0 mV and photocurrent was 460.0 μA whereas maximum power of the cell was 407.10 μW. The observed power at power point was 158.72 μW and the conversion efficiency was 1.52%. The fill factor 0.3151 was experimentally determined at the power point of the cell. The rate of initial generation of photocurrent was 63.88 μA min −1. The photogalvanic cell so developed can work for 145.0 min in dark on irradiation for 165.0 min, i.e. the storage capacity of the photogalvanic cell is 87.87%. A simple mechanism for the photogeneration of photocurrent has also been proposed.