Photovoltaic parameters of DSSCs using natural dyes with TiO2 nanopowder and nanofiber as photoanodes: A comparative study

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) are currently attracting academic and commercial interest as regenerative low-cost alternatives to conventional solar cell devices. Researchers are focusing to facilitate for producing a low cost, eco-friendly and more efficient dye sensitized solar cells. Natural dye sensitized solar cells are a promising class of photovoltaic cells with the capacity of generating green energy at low production cost since no expensive equipment is required in their fabrication. In the present work we discuss the effect of Photoanodes sensitized with natural dyes Lawsone and Alizarin. We compared the efficiency of the devices fabricated with TiO
₂
nanofibers and nanopowder as photoanodes using these natural dyes. It is found that when we used nano fibers instead of nano powder as photo anode the dye adsorption on the TiO
₂
surface increases. This helps to harvest more photons and increases photocurrent density. As a result there is a significant increase in short circuit current density and conversion efficiency.