Date of Award

2023

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Natural Sciences

First Advisor

Jiang, Lin

Area of Concentration

Natural Sciences

Abstract

In recent years natural Dye Sensitized Solar Cells (DSSCs) have garnered interest as an environmentally friendly and inexpensive source of energy, unfortunately these cells are often low efficiency- generally less than 1%. This study aimed to increase the efficiency of natural Dye Sensitized Solar Cells through manipulating variables like dye selection, pH, selective dye combination, and separation of the most efficient dye. The effectiveness of these cells are closely related to the dye sensitizers chosen, due to the central purpose of a sensitizer being to transform sunlight into electron excitation to provide electrical energy. In this research, dried and ground plant materials were submerged in methanol to produce a liquid dye, with solid particulate removed via filtration. An electrolyte solution and membrane were utilized to facilitate energy transfer between the anode and cathode of the cell, with solar simulator testing conducted to evaluate solar energy conversion performance of the cell. The results indicate that rose leaf dye exhibited the highest efficiency of the dyes tested under methanol solvent conditions. To isolate specific components aiding efficiency increases, the dye extracted from rose leaves was separated by preparative thin-layer chromatography. These findings provide insight into the factors that affect the efficiency of natural plant based Dye Sensitized Solar Cells and highlight the importance of optimizing dye selection in their design.

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