Betalain pigments as natural photosensitizers for dye-sensitized solar cells: The effect of dye pH on the photoelectric parameters

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC) were fabricated using red bougainvillea glabra flower dye extracts as natural dye sensitizers at three dye pH values of 1.23, 3.0, and 5.7. Water was used as dye-extracting solvent. DSSCs from dye extract of pH 3.0 had the highest photocurrent density J sc of 3.72 mA/cm2 and fill factor FF of 0.59. While the DSSCs from dye sensitizer pHs of 1.23 and 5.7 had J sc of 1.13 and 2.27 mA/cm2, and fill factors of 0.43 and 0.61, respectively. The maximum powers P max of the DSSCs were 0.50, 1.64, and 0.94 mW/cm2 for dye sensitizer pH of 1.2, 3.0, and 5.7, respectively. © 2014 The Author(s).