Sains Malaysiana, 2016;45:1227-1234.

Abstract

Blue-pea flower, turmeric, mulberries, brown rice, purple cabbage and Indian mulberry leave were successfully form on
TiO2 mesoporous film using immersion method to produce TiO2 mesoporous photoanode for natural dye sensitized solar
cells (DSSCs) assembly. The TiO2 mesoporous films were formed after calcinations at 450˚C for 30 min. The photoanodes
were dipped in different types of natural dye for 24, 72 and 120 h. The properties of natural dye were investigated by
ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-vis) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). From UV-Vis spectroscopy
analysis, the wavelength range of the natural dye studied in this research lays between 350 and 800 nm. The FTIR result
of the natural dye shows the present of intermolecular H-bond, C=O stretching vibration, C-O-C stretching vibration,
C=C bending and C-H bending which was due to the component of anthocyanin, carotenoids and chlorophyll. The
characterization including field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), energy dispersive x-ray (EDX) and x-ray
diffraction (XRD) were carried out on the TiO2 mesoporous film. On the other hand, the conductivity of electrolyte for
liquid electrolyte, gel electrolyte and solid electrolyte were also investigated. Gel electrolyte has the highest conductivity,
26.1 mS/cm while liquid electrolyte and solid electrolyte obtained 17.34 and 0.45 mS/cm, respectively. Finally, solar
cells were prepared by sandwiching the TiO2 mesoporous photoanode with Platinum (Pt) counter electrode. The results
showed short circuit current, open circuit current voltage, fill factor and efficiency for all samples during the present of
light. The highest efficiency was obtained from Blue-pea sample that immersed for 120 h with 0.123% efficiency.