| Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1232103 | Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy | 2015 | 8 Pages |
•Chlorophyll and betalain dyes are extracted from spinach leaves and beet roots.•Temperature and pH dependent UV characteristics of these dyes are investigated.•Zinc oxide (ZnO) particles are synthesized and characterized using XRD, FTIR, SEM.•Dye sensitized solar cells are fabricated using extracted dyes and ZnO particles.•Mixture of aforesaid dyes shows better efficiency than individual dyes.
Herein, chlorophyll and betalain dyes are extracted from fresh spinach leaves and beetroots. Fourier transform infrared spectra are used to identify the characteristic peaks of the extracted dyes. UV–vis light absorption characteristics of the dyes and their mixed counterpart are investigated by varying their pH and temperature. These dyes are used as photo sensitizer for fabrication of zinc oxide photo-anode based dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The photo-voltaic characteristics of the developed DSSCs are measured under simulated solar light (power of incident light 100 mW cm−2 from Air Mass 1.5G). The solar to electric conversion efficiencies for the chlorophyll, betalain and mixed dye based solar cells are estimated as 0.148%, 0.197% and 0.294% respectively. The highest conversion efficiency for mixed dye based solar cell is attributed due to the absorption of wider range of solar spectrum.
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