The Characterization of Nickel-Doped TiO2-Based Dye Sensitized Solar Cells Using Natural Dyes Extracted from Persea Americana L, Murraya koenigii, Citrus sinesis L and Talium fruticosum Leaves

Abstract

This study concentrates on the third generation photovoltaic cell, which is the conventional dye-sensitized solar cell. This type of solar cell is generally made up from various components such as photo anode support, photo sensitizer (dye), electrolyte and counter electrode. In this research, Nickel was used to doped TiO₂ with Avocado leaf (Persea Americana L), Currry leaf (Murraya koenigii), Orange leaf (Citrus sinesis L) and Ceylon spinach (Talium fruticosum) for DSSCs fabrication. The sensitized TiO₂/silver with dye recorded an efficiency of 0.47%, 0.47%, 0.05%, and 0.04% for Avocado leaf (Persea Americana L), Curry leaf (Murraya koenigii), Orange leaf (Citrus sinesis L) and Ceylon spinach leaves (Talium fruticosum) respectively. The optical energy bandgap was observed to be 2.32 eV for TiO₂ and 3.50 eV, 3.51 eV, 3.51 eV, and 3.52 eV. The structure of the cells is polycrystalline, with several noticeable peaks at 24.891°, 27.509^o, 30.375^o ,32.915^o, 27.509^o, 35.296^o, 38.814^o, 43.152^o, 47.579^o, 53.231^o and 59.130^o for TiO₂ and 21.689°, 26.363^o, 28.162^o, 30.464^o, 30.083^o, 33.083^o, 35.780^o, 40.612^o, 45.207^o, 49.387^o and 54.466^o for TiO₂/Ni_0.1/avocado leaf, TiO₂/Ni_0.1/curry leaf and TiO₂/Ni_0.1/orange leaf corresponding to (101), (004), (200), (105), (211), (204), (116), (220), (215) and (303) planes, respectively. The structure of cells is polycrystalline and exhibit the highest peak (200) at 30.375, (211) at 33.083, (200) at 28.162 and (105) at 30.622 for the bare TiO₂ andTiO₂/Ni_0.1/avocado leaf, TiO₂/Ni_0.1/curry leaf and TiO₂/Ni_0.1/orange leaf, respectively