title: Green grasses as light harvesters in dye sensitized solar cells.
abstract: Chlorophylls, the major pigments presented in plants are responsible for the process of photosynthesis. The working principle of dye sensitized solar cell (DSSC) is analogous to natural photosynthesis in light-harvesting and charge separation. In a similar way, natural dyes extracted from three types of grasses viz. Hierochloe Odorata (HO), Torulinium Odoratum (TO) and Dactyloctenium Aegyptium (DA) were used as light harvesters in dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) were used to characterize the dyes. The electron transport mechanism and internal resistance of the DSSCs were investigated by the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The performance of the cells fabricated with the grass extract shows comparable efficiencies with the reported natural dyes. Among the three types of grasses, the DSSC fabricated with the dye extracted from Hierochloe Odorata (HO) exhibited the maximum efficiency. LC-MS investigations indicated that the dominant pigment present in HO dye was pheophytin a (Pheo a).
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Pondicherry University, Puducherry 605 014, India.
authors.forename: Vinoth
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Shanmugam
authors.affiliation: Nanomaterials and Solar Energy Conversion Lab, Department of Chemistry, National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli 620 015, India.
authors.forename: Subbaiah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Manoharan
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Pondicherry University, Puducherry 605 014, India.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sharafali
authors.affiliation: Nanomaterials and Solar Energy Conversion Lab, Department of Chemistry, National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli 620 015, India.
authors.forename: Sambandam
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Anandan
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Pondicherry University, Puducherry 605 014, India. Electronic address: moranamurugan.phy@pondiuni.edu.in.
authors.forename: Ramaswamy
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Murugan
mesh_terms: D065966:Absorption, Physicochemical; D002853:Chromatography, Liquid; D004396:Coloring Agents / Q000737:chemistry*; D058266:Dielectric Spectroscopy; D004560:Electricity; D004566:Electrodes; D008027:Light; D013058:Mass Spectrometry; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D006109:Poaceae / Q000737:chemistry*; D012993:Solar Energy; D013056:Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared; D014025:Titanium / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D004396:Coloring Agents; C009495:titanium dioxide; D014025:Titanium
keywords: Dye sensitized solar cells; Grass extract; Liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry; Natural dyes; Pheophytin a