Open AccessCitrus fruit peels extracts as light harvesters for efficient ZnO-based dye-sensitized solar cells
Author(s) -
Oluwaseun Adedokun,
Olufunke Lydia Adedeji,
Mojoyinola Kofoworola Awodele,
Ismaila Taiwo Bello,
Ayodeji Oladiran Awodugba
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
journal of physics. conference series
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.21
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1742-6596
pISSN - 1742-6588
DOI - 10.1088/1742-6596/1299/1/012010
Subject(s) - citrus paradisi , pigment , chemistry , pheophytin , fourier transform infrared spectroscopy , citrus × sinensis , chlorophyll , materials science , botany , rutaceae , orange (colour) , food science , chemical engineering , photosynthesis , organic chemistry , biology , photosystem ii , engineering
Our voracious consumption of fossil fuels at an exponentially increasing rate has led to global warming and climate change. As a result of these problems, it is crucial to exploreother sources of clean energy. The natural pigmentsextraction and the performancedetermination in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells (DSSCs)from fruit peels of citrus were presented in this paper. Extraction of natural dye of citrus fruit peels of Citrus paradisi, Citrus sinensis, Citrus limonum and Citrus tangelo were employed as light sensitizers in fabricating ZnO-based DSSCs. The natural pigments extracts characteristics were analyzedby UV-Vis absorption, Fourier transforms infra-red (FTIR) and Photoluminescence spectroscopy techniques. The semiconductor active layer material was synthesized and analyzed. The characteristics of photo-voltaic parameters for the invented DSSCs were studied under simulated sunlight. The presence of chlorophyll derivative in most of the extracted dyes is evident as the core pigments with additional accessory pigments. The conversion efficiencies of sunlight to electrical energy of pheophytin ‘a’ dye ZnO based solar cells are calculated to be 0.028%, 0.013%, 0.004% and 0.022% for Citrus paradisi, Citrus sinensis, Citrus limonum and Citrus tangelo , respectively. Better performance of photo-sensitized was observed for the extracts of Citrus paradisi compared to the other extracts and this may be owing to the better charge transfer between the pigments of Citrus paradisi and surface of ZnOphotoactive layer. The conversion of visible light to electricitywas produced from natural pigments and ZnO photoactive layerbased DSSCs, resulted into superb photo-electric characteristics.