FABRICATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF DYE- SENSITIZED SOLAR CELL (DSSC) USING NATURAL DYE FROM ALSTONIABOONEI (STOOL WOOD)

Abstract

Natural dye from Alstonia boonei was used as a sensitizer to fabricate dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) using Doctor Blade method. The photoelectrochemical performance of the cell, showed an open circuit voltage (Voc) of 0.514v, short circuit current density (Jsc) of 0.330mA/cm2a fill factor (FF) of 0.309 and a conversion efficiency of 0.052%. The cell absorbed light in the ultra violet (UV), visible and near-infra red (NIR) regions with maximum absorption peak at 4.842A.U. in the UV region. The cell with anthocyanin dye used as a control, gave a conversion efficiency of 0.019% with Voc of 0.514v, Jsc of 0.376mA/cm2and a fill factor (FF) of 0.100 with maximum absorption peak of 4.773A.U. in the UV region. The efficiency of the cell with Alstonia boonei dye gave a higher efficiency than the control cell which is also in line with the efficiency of other natural dyes earlier reported by other Scientists. Therefore, Alstonia boonei dye can be used as a sensitizer in DSSCs considering its conversion efficiency and its ability to absorb photon energy even in the near-IR (NIR) region