International Journal of Photoenergy

H. C. Hassan ¹, Z. H. Z. Abidin ¹, F. I. Chowdhury ¹, A. K. Arof ¹

Affiliations
1 Centre for Ionics University Malaya, Department of Physics, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, MY

Abstract

The objective of this work is to investigate the performance of chlorophyll sensitized solar cells (CSSCs) with gel electrolyte based on polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) with single iodide salt (potassium iodide (KI)) and double salt (KI and tetrapropylammonium iodide (TPAI)). Chlorophyll was extracted from the bryophyte Hyophila involuta. The CSSC with electrolyte containing only KI salt produced a short circuit current density (J_sc) of 4.59mA cm⁻², open circuit voltage (V_oc) of 0.61V, fill factor (FF) of 0.64, and efficiency (η) of 1.77%. However, the CSSC with double salt electrolyte exhibited J_sc of 5.96mA cm⁻², V_oc of 0.58V, fill factor FF of 0.58, and η of 2.00%. Since CSSC with double salt electrolyte showed better efficiency, other cells fabricated will use the double salt electrolyte. On addition of 0.7M tetrabutyl pyridine (TBP) to the double salt electrolyte, the cell's efficiency increased to 2.17%, J_sc = 5.37mA cm⁻², V_oc = 0.55V, and FF = 0.73. With 5mM chenodeoxycholic acid (CDCA) added to the chlorophyll, the light to electricity efficiency increased to 2.62% with J_sc of 8.44mAcm⁻², V_oc of 0.54V, and FF of 0.58.

Full Text