Potato Skin Dye Sensitizer for Dye-sensitized Solar Cells Using SnO2-ZnO Photoelectrode

Abstract

(x)SnO₂-(1-x)ZnO powder was mixed two difference ratios (50 mol% : 50mol%) and            (25 mol% : 75 mol%) by simple technique solid state at 1000°C for 3h. To get the homogeneous and small scale particle, mechanochemical milling process was performed. XRD technique was used to examine the crystal structure and phase identification of samples. As a result of XRD, it was found that SnO₂ and ZnO were clustered at 1000°C. SnO₂-ZnO Sol Solution was coated onto ITO coated glass substrate by Single Wafer Spin Coating method at 2000 rpm. The dye from potato skin was extracted by citric acid at 110°C for 30 min. UV-vis spectrometer was used to observe optical properties of potato skin extract. To form the SnO₂-ZnO photoelectrode, the films were immersed in potato extract for 10 h. Carbon counter electrode was prepared and both electrodes were offset together with binder clip to form DSSC architecture. I-V characteristic of (x) SnO₂ -         (1-x) ZnO cells were measured under illumination. The fill factor was calculated to be 0.52 and 0.54,respectively. The conversion efficiencies were determined to be 2.49% to 2.84 % for respective cells. The cell exhibited the potential to be a low-cost photovoltaic option.