Pigments for Generating Electric Power - An Overview

Innovation of novel renewable energy technologies is of utmost importance in the present scenario. Among the several non conventional energy technologies available, harnessing the abundantly available solar energy remains challenging to the human society. Compared to the conventional silicon based diodes, dye sensitized solar cells (DSSC's) have gained considerable attention over the past two decades. This topic has attracted numerous research groups in recent days and constant focus is done on the various aspects of DSSC's such as molecular engineering of photosensitizing materials, better fabrication procedures, development of counter electrode materials etc. In this review paper, we have discussed the recent progress in this novel field of research in a broader sense and also emphasized the importance of natural photosensitizer's and their reported conversion efficiencies by various researchers. In addition, few recommendations are suggested for the better performance of the photovoltaic devices based on naturally extracted dyes.