Review on Efficiency Enhancement Using Natural Extract Mediated Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell for Sustainable Photovoltaics

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) have turned a new horizon in energy research due to their widespread exploration over two decades by improving efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and easy process than inorganic-based solar cells. The major challenges are metal complexes on designing the cells and sustainability implications for further rapid expansion due to its toxicity. To overcome the problems associated with metal complexes, the dyes are extracted from bionatural sources such as flowers, fruits, barks, petals, roots, leaves, and beans of plants. These organic dyes are being nontoxic, cost-effective, abundant, environmentally friendly, and easy to extract, which is made them extensively applicable for DSSC. Through this review, readers may get an idea about the effect in the efficiency of the solar cell by applying variable semiconductors, effects of solvents, variable light-harvesting pigments, types of electrolytes, and modification of counter electrodes by certain polymeric materials or nanomaterials. Furthermore, the effects of methodology, processing temperature, and pH of the medium during synthesis on solar cell parameters, such as the efficiency of DSSC, are critically analyzed which are reported by other researchers.

Automated summary

Dye-sensitized solar cells have shown promise in energy research as a more efficient and environmentally friendly alternative to traditional inorganic solar cells, by utilizing organic dyes extracted from natural sources.