Environmental Science and Pollution Research (2021) 28:57860–57871

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-14551-9

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Optical and morphological properties of Curcuma longa dye

for dye-sensitized solar cells
Rania Anoua 1,2 & Houda Lifi 1 & Samira Touhtouh 1 & Mohamed El Jouad 1 & Abdelowahed Hajjaji 1 & Mina Bakasse 3 &
Przemysław Płociennik 4,5 & Anna Zawadzka 5,6

Received: 28 July 2020 / Accepted: 19 May 2021 / Published online: 7 June 2021
# The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2021

Abstract
New experimental results of morphological and optical properties of Curcuma longa dye thin film were investigated. The thin
films were deposited by physical vapor deposition technique. Morphological properties were measured using atomic force
microscopy technique and they show a granular structure which above there are nanotubes shapes. Photoluminescence of
Curcuma longa at low temperature was investigated and discussed for the first time. The temperature effect from 77 to 300 K
of Curcuma longa thin film has been shown and luminescence was strongly observed. Photoelectrochemical parameters of the
dye-sensitized solar cell based on Curcuma longa have been computed via the finite element method. The power conversion
efficiency is about 0.86% obtained from short circuit current, open-circuit voltage, and fill factor of 0.13 mA/cm2, 0.52 mV, and
0.83, respectively. As a result, Curcuma longa dye can be applied to dye-sensitized solar cells.

Keywords Dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) . Natural dyes . Curcuma longa dye . Physical vapor deposition (PVD) . Atomic force
microscopy (AFM) . Transmittance . Photoluminescence . Decay time

Introduction

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) technology (O’Regan and

Responsible Editor: Philippe Garrigues
* Rania Anoua
anoua.r@ucd.ac.ma
1
Laboratory of Engineering Sciences for Energy, National School of
Applied Sciences of El Jadida, BP 1166 El Jadida, Morocco
2
Department of Automation and Measurement Systems, Faculty of
Physics, Astronomy and Informatics, Nicolaus Copernicus
University, Grudziądzka 5, Torun 87-100, Poland
3
Laboratory of Chemistry Organic, Bioorganic and Environment,
Faculty of Science, University Chouaib Doukkali, 24000 El
Jadida, Morocco
4
Institute of Engineering and Technology, Faculty of Physics,
Astronomy and Informatics, Nicolaus Copernicus University,
Grudziadzka 5, 87-100 Torun, Poland
5
Centre for Modern Interdisciplinary Technologies, Nicolaus
Copernicus University, Wilenska 4, 87-100 Torun, Poland
6
Institute of Physics, Faculty of Physics, Astronomy and Informatics,
Nicolaus Copernicus University, Grudziadzka 5,
87-100 Torun, Poland
Grätzel 1991) for solar energy conservation attracted worldwide
researchers thanks to their low-cost materials and environmental
friendliness (Morales-Torres et al. 2012; Gao et al. 2018). DSSCs
are one of the most popular solutions for homes as an alternative
to fossil fuel and for optimizing the conditions of preparation of
materials that can be used in the optical domain for solar cells
(Noman et al. 2019; Bartolotta and Calogero 2020). DSSC is a
hybrid architecture composed of an organic material (the dye)
absorbed by an inorganic material (semiconductor) in contact
with an electrolyte and covered by a counter electrode. The most
suitable semiconductor (SC) is titanium dioxide (TiO2), since its
conduction band (CB) enables highly efficient electrons injection
from the excited state of the dye (Hossain et al. 2018b, 2018e,
2019). Reasearchers are continuously seeking for optimizing dif-
ferent operation parameters of DSSC to enhance their efficiency.
Among them the dye which is the important element of the cell,
due to its capability to absorb photons and inject electrons to the
SC. Hence the need to find a suitable dye for this kind of cell.
Sythetic dyes have the highest efficiency achieved from
carboxy and silyl anchors (14.7%), as well as with the medi-
ator redox based on cobalt (12.3%) (Mathew et al. 2014, p. 13;
Environ Sci Pollut Res (2021) 28:57860–57871
Hossain et al. 2018a). Nevertheless, the procedures for the
synthesis of efficient synthetic dyes are extremely consuming
and require expensive and complicated dye materials.
Consequently, natural dyes are considered as a viable alterna-
tive to inorganic dyes, this is due to its outstanding remarkable
advantages, i.e., low manufacturing cost, easy extrac-
tion, energy recovery time, flexibility, availability of
raw materials, environment friendly, and multicolor
(Hossain et al. 2017, 2018d).
The natural dye such as Curcuma longa is one of the most
promising candidate for DSSC. Curcuma longa is a yellow-
orange powder extracted from turmeric, with a chemical for-
mula of C21H20O6 and it is formed by two feruloyl (aryl
buten-2-one) chromophores linked by a methylene group
(Chignell et al. 1994). Various attempts have been devoted
experimentally and theoretically to study Curcuma longa. In
the experimental point of view, Buddee et al. and Suresh et al.
reported that Curcuma longa has a strong absorption visible
range from 420 to 580 nm using the asorbance spectrum and
from 380 to 520 nm using the diffuse reflectance spectrum
(DRS), respectively (Buddee et al. 2014; Suresh et al. 2015).
These optical properties have shown that Curcuma longa
would certainly be interesting as a natural dye to extend visi-
ble light response of the SC. By varing the TiO2 film thickness
in the range of 5–25 μm, Hossain et al. showed that Curcuma
longa dye can be used as a sensitizer in DSSCs with photo-
current densities of 0.17 to 0.49 mA·cm2 (Hossain et al.
2018c). From the cyclic voltammetry, Sinha et al. reported
that the redox response of the Curcuma longa is completely
irreversible. Curcuma longa has a broad energy band gap with
high electron affinity and oxidation peak, as well as a low
driving energy. Consequently, it is more suitable and stable
for DSSC application (Sinha et al. 2018). On the other hand,
from a theoretical point of view using density functional the-
ory (DFT), Ilić and Paunović have investigated the electronic
properties of Curcuma longa and they confirm that the elec-
trons have a higher probability of reaching the CB, which
points to another reason why DSSC based on Curcuma longa
could have greater efficiency (Ilić and Paunović 2019). Other
researchers studied also the electronic properties and con-
firmed that the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital
(LUMO) of Curcuma longa dye is above the conducting band
(CB) of TiO2 (Abduljalil et al. 2018), which is a necessary
property that allow the confirmation of the use of the dye as a
sensitizer to DSSC.
In this work, Curcuma longa is used as a natural sensitizer.
As a novelty, Curcuma longa is deposited as a thin film by
physical vapor deposition (PVD) technique. The obtained
morphological properties of the thin film were investigated
by atomic force microscopy (AFM). In order to validate the
use of Curcuma longa as a dye for DSSC, optical properties
using transmittance and photoluminescence (PL) spectros-
copies were performed. New photoluminescence
57861
measurements of Curcuma longa were generated at low tem-
peratures going from 77 to 300 K, and the temperature effect
is noticed and discussed. A numerical study of DSSC based
on Curcuma longa dye using the finite element method was
computed.
Deposition technique of Curcuma longa thin
films
Thin films of Curcuma longa dye were deposited on silicon
and glass substrates by means of physical vapor deposition
technique (Zawadzka et al. 2012; Korcala et al. 2019;
Aamoum et al. 2019, p.). It was better to deposit the thin film
on silicon for AFM to have clear measurements, and on the
glass for transmittance and photoluminescence measurements
(Anoua et al. 2019, 2020; Lougdali et al. 2019).
The description of PVD apparatus used in this work is
shown in Fig. 1. The chamber reaches the high vacuum pres-
sure at 2 × 10−5 Torr via the rotary pump following by the
diffusion pump. The temperature of the evaporation (80 °C) of
the Curcuma longa dye was reached, by supplying the tem-
perature that was manually controlled by coil heating resis-
tance tungsten filament wire. The temperature was slightly
increased around 20 °C to raise the efficiency of the process.
Results and discussion
Morphological proprieties
Atomic force microscopy characterization is a non-destructive
method of analyzing the topography of the given sample. The
obtained information are the three-dimensional morphology
and the toughness of the analyzed surface (Chelouche 2018).
The morphology of Curcuma longa dye thin film deposited
on silicon substrat was performed by atomic force microscopy
technique. The AFM imaging was investigated in contact
mode, with a Nanosurf Easyscan 2 AFM equipment. Fig. 2
presents AFM images at room temperature of the deposited
thin film of Curcuma longa dye at three different sizes. From
Fig. 2a, the particles are randomly spread all over the surface
of the sample. A non-uniform granular structure of the layer is
presented in Fig. 2c. The grains are very small and
nanometric, which above the growth of nanowires as shown
in Fig. 2b.
Optical properties
Transmittance
The optical transmittance spectrum of Curcuma longa dye
thin film was performed at room temperature, by using
57862 Environ Sci Pollut Res (2021) 28:57860–57871

Fig. 1 PVD equipments. S,

source (effusion cell and heater);
S1–4, substrates; VC, vacuum
chamber; V1–4, manual valves;
RP, rotary vacuum pump; DP,
diffusion pump

Fig. 2 AFM 3D images of the surface morphology of Curcuma longa dye thin film deposited by the PL technique: a 50 × 50 μm area, b 10 × 10 μm
area, c 2 × 2 μm area
Environ Sci Pollut Res (2021) 28:57860–57871 57863

Fig. 3 a Transmittance and b absorbance of Curcuma longa dye thin film

Perkin Elmer Lambda 2 Spectrophotometer. Fig. 3a shows the where A is the absorbance that is extracted from transmit-
transmittance spectrum as a function of the wavelength tance, T (A = − log T), and x is the thickness of the thin film.
in the spectral range of 280–1100 nm of Curcuma The thickness measured by the profilometer is 447.4 nm.
longa dye, and Fig. 3b its absorbance obtained from The analysis of the absorbance coefficient as a function of
the equation A = − log T. wavelength allows to determine the optical energy band gap
In the ultraviolet range, there is an average transmittance of for the material based on Eq. (2) (Tauc et al. 1966; Pankove
about 0.4 U.E between 320 and 400 nm. However, in the and Kiewit 1972).
c  c r
visible range, particularly from 400 to 500 nm, the material αh ¼ B h −Eg ð2Þ
absorbs the light. From 500 nm, the transmittance increases λ λ
slightly to stabilize reaching 0.9 U.E. The absorption in the
where α is the absorbance coefficient, h is the Planck con-
range of 400–500 nm is in good agreement with the previous
stant, c means the speed of light, λ is the wavelength, Eg
published works (Soltani Rad et al. 2015; Condat et al.
represents the energy gap value, B represents a parameter de-
2015; Hatamie et al. 2018; Ilić and Paunović 2019).
pending on the optical probability, and r defines the type of
Fig. 4a presents the absorbance coefficient of Curcuma
the optical transition.
longa dye, and this coefficient is calculated by the fol-
The best fit of Eq. (2) was obtained for r = 1/2. It means that
lowing equation (Kodigala 2010):
the nature of the transition is direct permitted optical transi-
tions. Therefore, Eq. (2) becomes:
A

α¼ ð11Þ c
0; 4343  x ðαEÞ2 ¼ B E−E g where E ¼ h ð3Þ
λ

Fig. 4 a Absorbance coefficient spectra and b energy band gap determination plots of Curcuma longa dye
57864
Fig. 5 Excitation-emission spectra at room temperature of Curcuma
longa dye thin film
Figure 4b displays the plot of (αE)2 as a function of E.
Energy gap value is estimated by the extrapolation of the
linear part of the curve and the intersection where (αE)2 = 0.
As shown in Fig. 4b, 2.88 eV and 4.22 eV are the two obtained
energy gaps, and 3.65 eV could be the energy of the last
vibrational level of the first singlet state.
In order to validate the use of the Curcuma longa dye as a
sensitizer for DSSCs, the LUMO energy of the dye should be
higher than the CB of TiO2 (Hidalgo et al. 2007; Hossain et al.
2008). The energy gap of dioxide titanium is from 2.86 to 3.34
eV. The first energy gap (2.88 eV) can be attributed to the
value of the HOMO-LUMO gap. The LUMO of Curcuma
longa dye could be above the CB of TiO2, and the variation
in the energy gap depends only on the stoichiometric of the
synthesis of dioxide titanium, the size of the crystalline, the
impurities, etc.
Fig. 6 3D excitation-emission
luminescence spectrum at room
temperature of Curcuma longa
dye thin film
Environ Sci Pollut Res (2021) 28:57860–57871
Photoluminescence
PL at room temperature All measurements of photoluminescence
in the present work were carried out by FluoroMax-4 spec-
trofluorometer using FluorEssence software (Zawadzka
et al. 2019; Waszkowska et al. 2021). Emission measure-
ment of Curcuma longa dye thin film has been investigated
from 460 to 680 nm, excited by 420 nm. Besides, the ex-
citation measurement has been performed from 260 to
500 nm at maximum emission intensity value. The excita-
tion and emission spectra of the deposited thin film on
glass substrates were measured at room temperature, as
shown in Fig. 5. Strong luminescence of 2.5 × 106 CPS
at the maximum emission wavelength at 524 nm was no-
ticed. By comparing the PL maximum peak (524 nm) with
the reported results (Soltani Rad et al. 2015; Hatamie et al.
2018), a good agreement has been observed, with a slight
shift of 25 nm. This shift is due to the fact that Soltani Rad
et al. (2015) and Hatamie et al. (2018) used dye as a solu-
tion whereas a thin film is used in this work.
Figure 6 presents the 3D excitation-emission luminescence
spectrum at room temperature and at Ex/Em = 390 − 475 nm/
510 − 590 nm. The analysis of Fig. 6 mainly displays one
photoluminescence peak with three maximum excitation
418, 448, and 466 nm at the same emission wavelength 524
nm. It is also observed that all excitation wavelengths from
406 to 468 nm could cause emission of Curcuma longa dye
with an average of 2.18 × 106 CPS from 500 to 570 nm.
Temperature effect To know the effect of temperature on the
photoluminescence of Curcuma longa dye thin film, the mea-
surements of the PL process were carried out within a temper-
Environ Sci Pollut Res (2021) 28:57860–57871 57865

Fig. 7 Photoluminescence
emission spectra of Curcuma
longa dye at different
temperatures

ature range from 77 to 300 K. The sample was placed in a longa dye thin film is about nanoseconds. Consequently, the
vacuum chamber and cooled using nitrogen gas. Fig. 7 shows emission is fluorescence, because the average lifetime of fluo-
the plot of photoluminescence of Curcuma longa dye at dif- rescence is 1 to 104 nanoseconds which is shorter than phos-
ferent temperatures. phorescence (usually seconds to minutes) (Khopkar 1998).
At lower temperatures, the higher intensities of the lumi- The graph (Fig. 11) exhibits a decrease of the lifetime with
nescence were observed. The luminescence intensity de- increasing the temperature. It can be observed that the lifetime
creases as a consequence of increasing the temperature. The decreases by 37% from 77 K to room temperature (300 K).
data for photoluminescence measurement are listed in Table 1. And proved that photoluminescence decreases with increasing
It can be noticed that the emission wavelength corresponds to temperature due to the nonradiative transition which reduces
the maximum PL intensity shifts by 2 nm for every 25 K. the lifetimes of fluorescence.
Figure 8 presents four Gaussian fit of the emission spec-
trum for the temperatures 77 K, 175 K, and 300 K. The values
of the maximum emission wavelengths intensity (Xc), the Use οf numerical simulation
maximum PL intensities (height), and the full width at half
maximum (FWHM) are presented in Table 2. Optical-electrical mοdel is used in the numerical simulation
The luminescence decreases by increasing the temperature. coupled with a two-step, in order to take advantage of the
This behavior is explained in Fig. 9 which shows the probable
absorption and emission process. The emission of Curcuma
longa dye obtained is about fluorescence, it is attributed as a Table 1 Results of photoluminescence measurements at low
temperatures
singlet to singlet transition (Skoog et al. 2007). The tempera-
ture dependence can be explained by the extra energy given to Temperature (K) Maximum PL Emission wavelength
the electron, which allows a jump from a vibrational state to an intensity (CPS) corresponding to the
upper vibrational state when the temperature increases. By the maximum PL intensity (nm)
return of the exited electron to the ground state, the electron 77 6 × 105 524
loses the excess of vibrational energy in the form of 100 4.7 × 105 526
nonradiative vibrational relaxation, and consequently, the lu- 125 3.36 × 105 528
minescence decreases. 150 2.4 × 10 5
530
175 1.67 × 105 532
Decay time The decay time was investigated at the maximum
200 1.24 × 105 534
luminescence wavelength (524 nm) (Zawadzka et al. 2014), as
225 1 × 105 536
presented in Fig. 10, at different temperatures of the measure-
250 8.3 × 104 538
ments. A single exponential fit is applied to the obtained
275 6.5 × 104 538
curves. The values of the decay times are shown in Fig. 11.
300 6.6 × 104 540
According to Fig. 11, the lifetime of the emission of Curcuma
57866 Environ Sci Pollut Res (2021) 28:57860–57871

Fig. 8 Curves fitting for emission spectra of Curcuma longa dye thin film with changing temperature: T = 77 K (a), T = 175 K (b), T = 300 K (c)

photoanode 3D design which can be straight. It can be inte-
grated into the model as well as the effect of the trap of light
can be analyzed as a natural extension.
For the enhancement of the efficiency of charge carrier
extractiοn (Lee et al. 2010, 2014), a design of 3D DSSC based
on FTO (fluorine-doped tin oxide) nanorod to develop the
optical-electrical mοdel simulated to determine the physics
of this cell is necessary. Fig. 12 presents the 3D DSSC. The
unit cell of DSSC contains one single nanorod.
The input parameters that affect the optical model are the
thickness οf the TiΟ2 layer, FTΟ nanοrοd length, and spacing,
and the optical parameters of the dye used. The refractive
index οf the TiΟ2 layer is extracted frοm the literature
(Rothenberger et al. 1999).

Table 2 Results of the Gaussian fitting for emission spectra by changing temperature. Xc in nm, height in CPS, and FWHM in nm

Fit Peak 1 Fit Peak 2 Fit Peak 3 Fit Peak 4

Xc Height FWHM Xc Height FWHM Xc Height FWHM Xc Height FWHM

77 K 528.74 382,168.23 37.78 508.42 295,262.52 23.15 553.96 273,465.24 55.12 594.26 110,441.12 91.36
100 K 530.06 305,207.39 39.04 556.30 206,052.83 56.903 597.70 79,469.78 92.52 509.08 228,555.27 23.95
125 K 531.04 210,758.49 39.45 510.27 147,152.34 25.31 557.63 148,687.04 57.90 599.97 55,942.45 94.34
150 K 532.01 146,325.00 40.49 511.14 96,067.69 26.47 558.64 107,349.85 59.30 601.10 40,697.24 96.361
175 K 533.67 103,199.65 41.96 512.25 64,043.22 28.68 561.49 74,508.99 60.96 605.28 27,761.15 97.03
200 K 532.53 74,977.32 42.15 511.31 38,748.65 28.409 560.17 59,139.91 61.49 603.53 23,206.26 98.02
225 K 531.66 57,522.33 42.33 509.81 25,379.29 26.7877 559.16 48,153.65 61.79 601.97 19,753.59 98.79
250 K 533.84 49,002.31 44.97 511.26 20,196.2 28.05 562.82 37,491.44 66.05 607.18 13,856.33 103.56
275 K 533.38 37,359.22 44.65 510.89 15,490.32 27.33 561.92 30,511.28 65.70 604.76 11,828.50 103.18
300 K 536.04 33,674.25 45.799 513.72 15,050.76 28.90 564.99 24,973.99 67.50 607.67 9012.69 104.06
Environ Sci Pollut Res (2021) 28:57860–57871 57867

Fig. 9 Graphical representation

of energy states. -S0: the ground
state -S1, S2: the excited singlet
electronic states -ei = 1,2,3: the
vibrational states

The I-V curve is obtained from the photocurrent and the
phοtοvοltage measurements from the solar simulator. To cal-
culate the EQE (External Quantum Efficiency) and IQE
(Internal Quantum Efficiency) curves, in each wavelength,
the calculation of electrons rate and the photocurrent at shοrt
circuit cοnditiοns is necessary. The EQE is calculated by the
ratio between the number of electrodes that are generated and
the number of photons of monochromatic light. The IQE is
calculated by the ratio of the number οf the extracted electrοns
and the number οf phοtοns absοrbed by the TiΟ2 layer.
Simulatiοn results
Figure 13 shows the electron concentration and the electron’s
recombination in the simulation for a unit cell in the center
section. The electrοn flοw is calculated as the gradient οf the
electrοn cοncentratiοn in the TiΟ2 cοnductiοn band.
Figure 14 presents the current-vοltage characteristics οf
sοlar cells fabricated with different cοnditiοns under
illuminatiοn that is under 5.8 mW/cm2 halogen illumination.
The dye cell, cοnsisting οf a TiΟ2/Curcuma longa dye system,

Fig. 10 Decay time curves of

Curcuma longa dye at the
maximum of luminescence
wavelength at different
temperatures of the measurements
57868
Fig. 11 The values of the decay time of Curcuma longa dye at the
maximum of luminescence wavelength at different temperatures of the
measurements
shοws the cοnversiοn efficiency abοut 0.86%. The shοrt cir-
cuit current is ~0.13 mA/cm2 and the οpen-circuit vοltage is
abοut 0.52 V.
These results indicate a better electrical cοntact between all
elements οf the nanοstructure. Fig. 15 displays the P-V curves
οf DSSC that is made from Curcuma longa dye. This figure
allοws to extract the essential οperating parameters such as the
parameters listed in Table 3 by using Eqs. (4) and (5).
Im  Vm
ff ¼ ð4Þ
I sc  V oc
Fig. 12 Illustratiοn οf the 3D DSSC structure
Environ Sci Pollut Res (2021) 28:57860–57871
Fig. 13 Recοmbinatiοn prοfile at shοrt circuit cοnditiοn and the FTΟ
nanοrοd is shοwn as the white vertical rοd inside the simulatiοn dοmain
where ff is the fill factor, Im and Vm are respectively the
current and voltage that the cell can deliver, and Isc and Voc
correspond respectively to the short circuit current and open-
circuit voltage.
Pm ðmW=cm2 Þ
η¼  100% ð5Þ
Pi ðmW=cm2 Þ
where ff is the fill factor, η represents the power conversion
efficiency, Pm is the output power, and Pi is the input power.
Therefore, due to the low cost, environmental friend-
liness, and technical efficiency of the extracted pig-
ments, Curcuma longa is a good candidate for the de-
velopment of industrial scale DSSC production. This
approach is encouraged because the photovoltaic effect
of DSSC based on Curcuma longa dye has been
achieved and all that remains is to optimize the
Fig. 14 I-V curve οf DSSC based on Curcuma longa dye
Environ Sci Pollut Res (2021) 28:57860–57871
Fig. 15 Simulated P-V curves οf DSSC based on Curcuma longa dye
parameters responsible for improving the cell’s efficien-
cy. The efficiency of natural pigments in dye-sensitized
solar cells is low when compared with that of synthetic
dyes which is a major challenge. The majority of natu-
ral dye-based DSSCs have power conversion less than
1% (Kim et al. 2013; Jamalullail et al. 2017; Amogne
et al. 2020). Pigment composition, anchor group in the
natural dye, and stability are key factors in the low
efficiencies of natural dyes. The addition of carbonyl
and hydroxyl groups in the chemical structure
Curcuma longa can allow to bind more to the TiO2,
which improves the electron migration and consequently
the efficiency of the fabricated DSSC (Subramanian and
Wang 2012). Another reason for low performance is the
high rate of free electron recombination with oxidized
dye molecules (Hara et al. 2000; Trihutomo et al.
2019). The properties of light-harvesting and the kinet-
ics of charge injection of dye molecules are important
factors for DSSC’s efficiency improvement. In this re-
gard, co-sensitization is a novel concept that broadens
the absorption region, which enhances the light-
harvesting efficiency and reduces the recombination ki-
netics (Ananthakumar et al. 2019). The charge transfer
potential of the co-sensitization process was improved
by a longer electron injection lifetime due to the time
gap of electrons by the intermediate excited state of
Table 3 Photoelectrochemical parameters of DSSC of simulation curve
results
Isc (mA·cm−2) Voc (mV) ff Pm (mW·cm−2) η (%)
0.13 0.52 0.83 0.05 0.86
57869
adjacent dye molecules, which is useful to remove the
recombination (Nnorom et al. 2020). It is hoped that
additional researches would lead to a potential break-
through in a higher DSSC based on natural dyes
performance.
Conclusion
The purpose of the current study was to determine the phys-
ical properties of Curcuma longa dye thin films. The thin
films were carried out by the physical vapor deposition
(PVD) technique. AFM images in contact mode showed a
non-uniform granular structure where above the growth of
nanotubes and nanowires. Curcuma longa dye thin film
transmits in the ultraviolet range around 40% and reaches
90% in the visible and absorbs in the range of 400–500 nm.
The energy gap of 2.88 eV was determined from tauc plot
method. Strong luminescence from 500 to 570 nm was ob-
served. The most surprising aspect of the data is in the 3D
fluorescence spectrum, which presented one luminescence
peak with three maximum. The temperature dependence
from 77 to 300 K of PL intensity was clearly shown. The
intensity of the luminescence decreases as the temperature
increases. The same behavior for the decay time of the
photoluminescence was observed. The lifetime of the fluo-
rescence is getting shorter by increasing the temperature,
going from (3.17 ± 0.02) ns for 77 K to (1.17 ± 0.02) ns
for 300 K. The essential photoelectrochemical parameters
from the finite element method simulation of DSSC such us
the short circuit current, the open-circuit voltage, and the fill
factor are equal to 0.13 mA·cm−2, 0.52 mV, and 0.83, re-
spectively. The simulated DSSC based on Curcuma longa
dye exhibits an efficiency about 0.86%. According to all
results, it can be concluded that the Curcuma longa dye is
suitable for dye-sensitized solar cells.
Acknowledgements Authors would like to acknowledge Professor
Bouchta Sahraoui for his support and help and his constructive advices
during the entire work.
Availability of data and materials All data generated or analyzed during
this study are included in this published article.
Author contribution R. Anoua: Writing-original draft, formal analysis,
experimental investigation, data curation
H. Lifi: Simulatiοn analysis
S. Touhtouh: Review & editing, formal analysis, supervision
M. El Jouad: Methodology, supervision
A. Hajjaji: Project administration, validation
M. Bakasse: Project administration, visualization
P. Płociennik: Methodology, visualization
A. Zawadzka: Experimental investigation, resources, methodology,
supervision
All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
57870
Funding This research has been financed from the funds of the Polish
National Science Centre (grant no. 2017/25/B/ST7/02124). The films
used in this paper were obtained using Interdisciplinary Centre for
Modern Technologies facilities, NCU, Torun, Poland.
R. Anoua wishes to acknowledge the Centre National pour la
Recherche Scientifique et Technique CNRST (Morocco) for the funding
of her doctoral scholarship (Pre-Doctoral Grants 2019).
Declarations
Ethics approval and consent to participate Not applicable.
Consent for publication Not applicable.
Competing interests The authors declare no competing interests.
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