Abstract:
Natural Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells (nDSSCs) have gained attention for their use of natural
dyes and electrode materials, with a focus on efficiency and absorption spectra.
Promising results have been obtained with various natural dyes, such as Blue butterfly
pea flower dye achieving 0.142% efficiency, Spinach Seeds dye achieving 0.067%, and
Yellow Allamanda flower dye achieving 0.038%. These findings demonstrate the potential
of natural dyes as efficient sensitizers in nDSSCs. The process of pigment extraction
involved a rotary evaporator, which was applied to conductive glass coated with titanium
dioxide (TiO2). The resulting solar cell immersed in the dye as the electrolyte, and its light
absorption and efficiency were evaluated. The absorption spectra revealed that each
natural dye had specific absorption characteristics, allowing effective light harvesting in
nDSSCs. FTO glasses with nano TiO2 exhibited higher current density and open-circuit
voltage compared to FTO glasses with normal TiO2 powder and ITO glasses with TiO2
fine powder. This study supports the potential of natural dyes as efficient sensitizers and
highlights the possibility of using recycled electrode materials, such as FTO glasses from
used nDSSCs and ITO glasses from recycled LCD panels, to enhance nDSSC
performance. In conclusion, this research demonstrates the promising performance of
natural dyes in nDSSCs and provides valuable insights into efficiency and absorption
spectra. The use of recycled electrode materials promotes sustainability and circular
economy principles. Future studies should focus on stability enhancement, process
optimization, and scalability of nDSSC technology for commercialization and integration
with other energy conversion systems.
