DIRECT AND SOXHLET EXTRACTION OF DYES FROM THE PEELS OF ALLIUM CEPA AND ITS EFFECTIVE APPLICATION IN DYE – SENSITIZED SOLAR CELLS AS SENSITIZER

Abstract

Uncomplicated fabrication technique, eco-friendly nature and economically viable quality are the pros that make dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) as a potential substitute for the conventional solar cells. In recent years, DSSC has been undergone various aspects of research and variety of studies are being reported. In accordance with that, this study has the uniqueness of reporting the utilization of the dyes extracted from the peels of Allium cepa (onion) as sensitizer in DSSC. Worldwide usage of onion results in tons of peels that is discarded as wastes. This work brings a beneficiary prospective to use those tons of wastes as a raw material in solar energy conversion. Two methods (such as direct and soxhlet extraction method) were followed to extract dyes from the onion peels and were used as sensitizer for DSSC. To know about the properties of the extracted dyes, spectroscopic studies such as UV–Visible, FTIR and RAMAN were carried out. A total of 4 DSSCs were fabricated in this study. The highest efficiency of 1.17% was obtained by the dye which was extracted by direct method using ethanol as solvent, which is so far the highest among the DSSCs made with dyes extracted from the peels.