Exploring the Potential of Allamanda cathartica-derived Carbon Dots for Enhancing Dye-sensitized Solar Cell Performance

Carbon dots (CD) produced through chemical sources need a passivation agent, unlike those created from natural sources. These CD have a vivid luminescence, mainly in the blue spectrum, which can be used in various fields of science and engineering. In this study, we have utilized the widely available Allamanda cathartica flowers to produce CD through solvothermal process. The resulting CD exhibited excellent optical properties with a fluorescence lifetime of 4.71 ns and an average particle size of 3.23 nm. The CD were utilized as co-sensitizers in a dye-sensitized solar cell with N719 dye which showed four times more efficiency than the only CD-sensitized device.

Automated summary

In this study, carbon dots with excellent optical properties were synthesized using Allamanda cathartica flowers through a solvothermal process. These carbon dots were employed as co-sensitizers in a dye-sensitized solar cell, resulting in a significant efficiency improvement.