Red Spinach Dye Extracts as Photosensitizer in Solid State Dye Sensitizer Dye Solar Cells : Varying Relative Ratio of Co-solvents and Dye Extracting Temperature

Abstract

The natural dye solutions were extracted from red Spinach leaves and used as photosensitizer in solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells (ssDSSCs). The optimal conditions for dye concentration and extracting temperature in ethanol and relative concentration of co-solvents (DMF and EtOH) were explored. With optimal dye concentration, the dyes extracted at 60 ºC in ethanol and the dyes in DMF-rich solvent maximized the absorption of dye solutions. Following the study of dye absorption in solution, ssDSSCs were fabricated using red spinach dye extracts and their photovoltaic performances were examined against dye extracting temperature and relative ratio of co-solvents. It is found that the device efficiencies were insensitive to extracting temperature and a relatively higher efficiency of 0.10% was exhibited in the device with red spinach dye in ethanol.