Investigation of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells Efficiency based on Natural Dye and TiO2 Nanowire Photoanode

In this work, an attempt has been made to develop a low-cost and environmentally friendly natural dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) based on TiO
2
nanowire photoanode. The TiO
2
nanowire photoanode was fabricated using the Glancing Angle Deposition Technique (GLAD) on FTO substrates using the e-beam evaporation technique. The measured length and top diameter of the fabricated TiO
2
-NW are ~ 410 nm and ~ 85 nm, respectively, which is analysed using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The annealed sample of TiO
2
nanowire sample shows X-ray Diffraction (XRD) peaks at ~ 24.86 º and ~ 38.18 º from the (111) and (004) crystal planes of TiO
2
crystal. The optical properties of the pomegranate dye loaded photoanode shows enhanced absorption intensity in the UV and visible region. Furthermore, the photo conversion efficiency of DSSCs based on mulberry and pomegranate dye is found to be ~ 0.03% and ~ 0.09%, respectively. Therefore, the proposed technique of fabricating TiO
2
nanostructure based photoanodes may be applicable for developing low-cost, environmentally friendly natural DSSCs.