IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/rensus/v78y2017icp301-317.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Recent progress and utilization of natural pigments in dye sensitized solar cells: A review

Author

Listed:
  • Kumara, N.T.R.N.
  • Lim, Andery
  • Lim, Chee Ming
  • Petra, Mohamad Iskandar
  • Ekanayake, Piyasiri

Abstract

Although efficiency of Dye Sensitized Solar Cell (DSSC) is still below the performance level of the market dominance silicon solar cells, in the last two decades DSSC has gathered sufficient interests because of the simplicity in device fabrication and low material cost, and therefore, DSSC is providing a possibility of solar cells production at a low entry cost. This review presents the research progress made in the implementation of natural pigments in DSSC. These pigments function as dye sensitizers and they play a major role in DSSC by absorbing light, and supplying electrons to the semiconductor matrixes in the cell. The common choices of dyes are the metal complexes, organic and/or natural dyes. A better efficiency with higher durability is observed for DSSC using metal complexes and organic dyes, however, the process of synthesizing these dyes is laborious, costly, and involves the use of toxic materials. As an alternative, natural pigments (dyes) found in plants such as anthocyanin, carotenoid, aurone, chlorophyll, tannin, betalain and many others are accepted as dyes in DSSCs. These natural pigments are easily obtained from fruits, flowers, leaves, seeds, barks and various parts of plants. Despite the limited performance of natural dyes, the prevailing advantages of natural dyes include high absorption coefficients, high light harvesting efficiency, low cost extraction and low toxicity. This review provides insight into the usage of the various natural pigments as sensitizers, the techniques to improve the pigments performance in DSSC, an outlook on the developmental work on the application of natural pigments in DSSC and their limitation. Additionally, the paper discusses the overall operation principle and the recent developments of each component of DSSC, as well as, comparing the material cost between natural dye and synthetic dye DSSC.

Suggested Citation

  • Kumara, N.T.R.N. & Lim, Andery & Lim, Chee Ming & Petra, Mohamad Iskandar & Ekanayake, Piyasiri, 2017. "Recent progress and utilization of natural pigments in dye sensitized solar cells: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 301-317.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:rensus:v:78:y:2017:i:c:p:301-317
    DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2017.04.075
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032117305841
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.rser.2017.04.075?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Chae, Young Tae & Kim, Jeehwan & Park, Hongsik & Shin, Byungha, 2014. "Building energy performance evaluation of building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) window with semi-transparent solar cells," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 217-227.
    2. Richhariya, Geetam & Kumar, Anil & Tekasakul, Perapong & Gupta, Bhupendra, 2017. "Natural dyes for dye sensitized solar cell: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 705-718.
    3. Hug, Hubert & Bader, Michael & Mair, Peter & Glatzel, Thilo, 2014. "Biophotovoltaics: Natural pigments in dye-sensitized solar cells," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 216-225.
    4. Gong, Jiawei & Sumathy, K. & Qiao, Qiquan & Zhou, Zhengping, 2017. "Review on dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs): Advanced techniques and research trends," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 68(P1), pages 234-246.
    5. Sharma, Sunita & Bulkesh Siwach, & Ghoshal, S.K. & Mohan, Devendra, 2017. "Dye sensitized solar cells: From genesis to recent drifts," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 529-537.
    6. Singh, Rahul & Polu, Anji Reddy & Bhattacharya, B. & Rhee, Hee-Woo & Varlikli, Canan & Singh, Pramod K., 2016. "Perspectives for solid biopolymer electrolytes in dye sensitized solar cell and battery application," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 1098-1117.
    7. Ludin, Norasikin A. & Al-Alwani Mahmoud, A.M. & Bakar Mohamad, Abu & Kadhum, Abd. Amir H. & Sopian, Kamaruzzaman & Abdul Karim, Nor Shazlinah, 2014. "Review on the development of natural dye photosensitizer for dye-sensitized solar cells," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 386-396.
    8. Shalini, S. & Balasundara prabhu, R. & Prasanna, S. & Mallick, Tapas K. & Senthilarasu, S., 2015. "Review on natural dye sensitized solar cells: Operation, materials and methods," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 1306-1325.
    9. Gong, Jiawei & Liang, Jing & Sumathy, K., 2012. "Review on dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs): Fundamental concepts and novel materials," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 16(8), pages 5848-5860.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Maddah, Hisham A. & Berry, Vikas & Behura, Sanjay K., 2020. "Biomolecular photosensitizers for dye-sensitized solar cells: Recent developments and critical insights," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    2. Nurfadzilah Ahmad & Jovana Vunduk & Anita Klaus & Nofri Yenita Dahlan & Soumya Ghosh & Firdaus Muhammad-Sukki & Laurent Dufossé & Nurul Aini Bani & Wan Abd Al Qadr Imad Wan-Mohtar, 2022. "Roles of Medicinal Mushrooms as Natural Food Dyes and Dye-Sensitised Solar Cells (DSSC): Synergy of Zero Hunger and Affordable Energy for Sustainable Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-22, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Devadiga, Dheeraj & Selvakumar, Muthu & Shetty, Prakasha & Santosh, Mysore Sridhar, 2022. "The integration of flexible dye-sensitized solar cells and storage devices towards wearable self-charging power systems: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    2. Arkan, Foroogh & Izadyar, Mohammad, 2018. "Recent theoretical progress in the organic/metal-organic sensitizers as the free dyes, dye/TiO2 and dye/electrolyte systems; Structural modifications and solvent effects on their performance," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 609-655.
    3. Maddah, Hisham A. & Berry, Vikas & Behura, Sanjay K., 2020. "Biomolecular photosensitizers for dye-sensitized solar cells: Recent developments and critical insights," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    4. Richhariya, Geetam & Kumar, Anil & Tekasakul, Perapong & Gupta, Bhupendra, 2017. "Natural dyes for dye sensitized solar cell: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 705-718.
    5. Bandara, T.M.W.J. & DeSilva, L. Ajith & Ratnasekera, J.L. & Hettiarachchi, K.H. & Wijerathna, A.P. & Thakurdesai, Madhavi & Preston, Joshua & Albinsson, I. & Mellander, B.-E., 2019. "High efficiency dye-sensitized solar cell based on a novel gel polymer electrolyte containing RbI and tetrahexylammonium iodide (Hex4NI) salts and multi-layered photoelectrodes of TiO2 nanoparticles," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 282-290.
    6. Fabian Schoden & Marius Dotter & Dörthe Knefelkamp & Tomasz Blachowicz & Eva Schwenzfeier Hellkamp, 2021. "Review of State of the Art Recycling Methods in the Context of Dye Sensitized Solar Cells," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-12, June.
    7. Hosseinnezhad, Mozhgan & Gharanjig, Kamaladin & Moradian, Siamak & Saeb, Mohammad Reza, 2017. "In quest of power conversion efficiency in nature-inspired dye-sensitized solar cells: Individual, co-sensitized or tandem configuration?," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 864-870.
    8. Alizadeh, Amin & Roudgar-Amoli, Mostafa & Bonyad-Shekalgourabi, Seyed-Milad & Shariatinia, Zahra & Mahmoudi, Melika & Saadat, Fatemeh, 2022. "Dye sensitized solar cells go beyond using perovskite and spinel inorganic materials: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    9. Shalini, S. & Balasundara prabhu, R. & Prasanna, S. & Mallick, Tapas K. & Senthilarasu, S., 2015. "Review on natural dye sensitized solar cells: Operation, materials and methods," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 1306-1325.
    10. Ludin, Norasikin Ahmad & Mustafa, Nur Ifthitah & Hanafiah, Marlia M. & Ibrahim, Mohd Adib & Asri Mat Teridi, Mohd & Sepeai, Suhaila & Zaharim, Azami & Sopian, Kamaruzzaman, 2018. "Prospects of life cycle assessment of renewable energy from solar photovoltaic technologies: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 11-28.
    11. Lee, Hyo Mun & Yoon, Jong Ho, 2018. "Power performance analysis of a transparent DSSC BIPV window based on 2 year measurement data in a full-scale mock-up," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 225(C), pages 1013-1021.
    12. Wali, Qamar & Elumalai, Naveen Kumar & Iqbal, Yaseen & Uddin, Ashraf & Jose, Rajan, 2018. "Tandem perovskite solar cells," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 89-110.
    13. Alessandro Cannavale & Francesco Martellotta & Francesco Fiorito & Ubaldo Ayr, 2020. "The Challenge for Building Integration of Highly Transparent Photovoltaics and Photoelectrochromic Devices," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-24, April.
    14. Husain, Alaa A.F. & Hasan, Wan Zuha W. & Shafie, Suhaidi & Hamidon, Mohd N. & Pandey, Shyam Sudhir, 2018. "A review of transparent solar photovoltaic technologies," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 779-791.
    15. Miguel A. Taco-Ugsha & Cristian P. Santacruz & Patricio J. Espinoza-Montero, 2020. "Natural Dyes from Mortiño ( Vaccinium floribundum ) as Sensitizers in Solar Cells," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-11, February.
    16. Jaafar, Siti Nur Hidayah & Minggu, Lorna Jeffery & Arifin, Khuzaimah & Kassim, Mohammad B. & Wan, Wan Ramli Daud, 2017. "Natural dyes as TIO2 sensitizers with membranes for photoelectrochemical water splitting: An overview," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 698-709.
    17. Gong, Jiawei & Sumathy, K. & Qiao, Qiquan & Zhou, Zhengping, 2017. "Review on dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs): Advanced techniques and research trends," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 68(P1), pages 234-246.
    18. Parisi, M.L. & Maranghi, S. & Vesce, L. & Sinicropi, A. & Di Carlo, A. & Basosi, R., 2020. "Prospective life cycle assessment of third-generation photovoltaics at the pre-industrial scale: A long-term scenario approach," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    19. Khan, M.Z.H. & Al-Mamun, M.R. & Halder, P.K. & Aziz, M.A., 2017. "Performance improvement of modified dye-sensitized solar cells," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 602-617.
    20. Skandalos, Nikolaos & Karamanis, Dimitris, 2015. "PV glazing technologies," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 306-322.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:rensus:v:78:y:2017:i:c:p:301-317. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/600126/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.