Issue 1, 2023

Effect of Ti1−xFexO2 photoanodes on the performance of dye-sensitized solar cells utilizing natural betalain pigments extracted from Beta vulgaris (BV)

Abstract

In order to enhance the performance and stability of the naturally occurring dye-based DSSCs, various engineered photoanodes were employed. In this study, Fe-doped TiO2 nanorod (NR) based photoanodes were synthesized on transparent conducting fluorine doped tin oxide (FTO) electrodes with the different concentrations of Fe (Ti1−xFexO2, x = 0–0.1) by a simple and economical hydrothermal method. The impact of Fe doping on the physicochemical and electrical characteristics of Ti1−xFexO2 photoanodes was investigated. The effect of Ti1−xFexO2 photoanodes in a dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) setup utilizing a natural dye extracted from Beta vulgaris (BV) was analyzed. The photovoltaic performance of the fabricated device using Ti1−xFexO2 NRs is tested by current density–voltage (JV) and incident photon-to-electron conversion efficiency (IPCE) characteristics to estimate the power conversion efficiency (PCE). The maximum photocurrent density of the DSSC device increased from 80 to 129.758 μA cm−2, whereas the PCE enhanced nearly twice from 0.26% to 0.52% with the insertion of 5 at% Fe in TiO2 NRs. The experimental result demonstrates that the charge injection and separation are significantly improved by the Ti1−xFexO2 interlayer. We predict that Ti1−xFexO2 photoanodes with improved responsiveness can replace the pure TiO2 nanostructures for promising photovoltaic applications. In addition to photovoltaics, these Ti1−xFexO2 photoanodes may serve as an encouraging approach for photocatalysis and photo sensors.

Graphical abstract: Effect of Ti1−xFexO2 photoanodes on the performance of dye-sensitized solar cells utilizing natural betalain pigments extracted from Beta vulgaris (BV)

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
26 Jul 2022
Accepted
01 Dec 2022
First published
02 Dec 2022
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

Energy Adv., 2023,2, 148-160

Effect of Ti1−xFexO2 photoanodes on the performance of dye-sensitized solar cells utilizing natural betalain pigments extracted from Beta vulgaris (BV)

A. Srivastava, J. A. K. Satrughna, M. K. Tiwari, A. Kanwade, S. C. Yadav, K. Bala and P. M. Shirage, Energy Adv., 2023, 2, 148 DOI: 10.1039/D2YA00197G

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