title: A cockspur for the DSS cells: Erythrina crista-galli sensitizers.
abstract: Dye sensitized solar cells were assembled employing a mixture of anthocyanins extracted from red ceibo's flowers. At the literature different extraction procedures are reported to extract anthocyanins from natural products and sensitize the cells. In order to compare them, different methods were followed to set the cells under the same conditions. Assembled cells showed very interesting conversion efficiency values, reaching a 0.73% value for extracts purified using C18 column, in open cells under illumination using a solar light simulator, 1 sun, 1.5 AM. Data reported herein prove that anthocyanins obtained from ceibo's flower, after simple further purification, might represent an excellent, cheap and clean alternative for the development of DSS cells.
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de Biomateriales, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República, Iguá 4225, 11400 Montevideo, Uruguay.
authors.forename: Paula
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Enciso
authors.affiliation: Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Jean-David
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Decoppet
authors.affiliation: Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Grätzel
authors.affiliation: Karlsruher Institut für Technologie, Karlsruhe, Germany.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wörner
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas - Instituto Tecnológico de Chascomús (IIB-INTECH), Universidad Nacional de San Martín (UNSAM) - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Intendente Marino km 8.2, CC 164, B7130IWA Chascomús, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: Franco M
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Cabrerizo
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de Biomateriales, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República, Iguá 4225, 11400 Montevideo, Uruguay. Electronic address: fcerda@fcien.edu.uy.
authors.forename: María Fernanda
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Cerdá
keywords: Anthocyanins; DSSC; Natural dye