Improving optical absorptivity of natural dyes for fabrication of efficient dye-sensitized solar cells

Efficient and cheap dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) were fabricated using natural dyes from Pastinaca sativa and Beta vulgaris. Natural dyes are environmentally and economically superior to ruthenium-based dyes because they are nontoxic and cheap. However, the conversion efficiency of dye-sensitized solar cells based on natural dyes is low. One way to improve the DSSC performance is to enhance the absorptivity of extracted dyes. We investigated the influence of various factors in the extraction process, such as utilization of different extraction approaches, the acidity of extraction solvent, and different compounds of solvents on the optical absorption spectra. It was found that we could considerably enhance the optical absorptivity of dye and consequently the performance of DSSC by choosing a proper mixture of ethanol and water for extracting solvent and also the acidity of dye solution.