ABSTRACT

Fabrication of DSSC (Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell) with Anthocyanin Dye

Obtained from Grape Peels Waste and Counter Electrode of PANI/Graphite
Blend (1:3)
By:
Qurrotu Ayun
10511104

Dye is an important component in DSSC (Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell), which act as photon
absorption sensitizer on the photoanode. The commonly used dye is Ruthenium based dye
that is known to be expensive and environmentally dangerous. In this work anthocyanin
obtained from grape peels waste was used as dye. DSSC devices were fabricated using
anthocyanin impregnated photoanode, and PANI/graphite blend with ratio of 1:3 (w/w) as the
counter electrode, which was deposited on glass substrate with screen printing method. In
this work, various treatments on the photoanode were performed, i.e. dye concentration,
impregnation time, and heat treatment. Dye concentrations were varied at 1.34 mM, 1 mM,
0.7 mM, 0.4 mM, 0.1 mM, 0.07 mM, 0.04 mM and 0.01 mM. Duration of dye impregnations
on the photoanode were varied at 6, 12, 20, 24, 30, 36 and 48 hours. Heat treatments on the
dye impregnated photoanode were performed at -7, 9, 25, 40 60 and 80C. Anthocyanin dyes
were characterized with UV-Vis spectroscopy in order to determine the range of its
absorbance wavelength. The dye impregnated photoanodes were characterized with UV-Vis
reflectance and Raman spectroscopy. Photovoltaic performances of the fabricated DSSCs
were measured using Solar Simulator. The highest efficiency of 0.088% was obtained on the
device fabricated with anthocyanin dye concentration of 1.34 mM, impregnation time of 20
hours, and heat treatment at 40C. Moreover a comparison of the photovoltaic performances
was performed between devices fabricated with different dyes: anthocyanin obtained from
grape peels, purple cabbages, and dye N719 at the same fabrication condition, i.e. dye
concentration of 0.4 mM and heat treatment at 40C. The measured cell efficiency were
0.041%, 0.113%, and 1.625%, respectively.
Keywords: Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell, anthocyanin, grape peels waste, counter electrode,
Graphite/Polyaniline (PANI) blend.