Effect of different dyes on TiO2 based dye sensitized solar cell

In this paper, the dye sensitized solar cells are fabricated by use of natural pigments as well as synthetic dyes to act as sensitizer. Pomegranate juice, extract of butea mono sperma flower, methyl orange and methylene blue dyes was tested. TiO2 NPs was used as high band gap semiconductor as electron transporting layer in dye sensitized solar cells. The conversion efficiency of visible light into electricity of pomegranate juice, extract of butea mono sperma flower, methyl orange and methylene blue dyes are 4.47%, 3.74%, 1.42% and 1.01% respectively. It is found that the natural dye pomegranate juice has best photosensitized effect than the other dyes. So, due to the simple preparation technique, low cost and large availability, natural dyes are promising as environmentally friendly sensitizers.