10.1007/s40089-021-00334-0

Magnesium-doped green solar cells using natural chromophores

  • Immaculata O. Onuigbo1,
  • Garba N. Abdulrahman1,
  • Chukwuma Onwujiuba1,
  • Oscar Iwu1,
  • Muhammed Falalu Yahaya1,
  • Wan Jin Jahng*1,
  1. Department of Petroleum Chemistry, American University of Nigeria, Yola, NG

Published in Issue 2021-04-12

How to Cite

Onuigbo, I. O., Abdulrahman, G. N., Onwujiuba, C., Iwu, O., Yahaya, M. F., & Jahng, W. J. (2021). Magnesium-doped green solar cells using natural chromophores. International Nano Letters, 11(3 (September 2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40089-021-00334-0
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Abstract

Abstract The current study tested the hypothesis of whether specific metal doping may show synergy with plant chromophore-based solar cells using a titanium dioxide (TiO 2 ) electrode. A natural dye-sensitized, magnesium-doped TiO 2 solar cell was assembled using the methanol extract from various western African plants including Lawsonia inermis (henna). Mg 2+ –TiO 2 nanoparticles were applied on fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) glass to serve as the photoanode of the solar cells with I-/I3-\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$I^{ - } /I_{3}^{ - }$$\end{document} electrolyte. A surface-modified TiO 2 photoanode was prepared through the immersion method using a selective dopant including magnesium and potash. An inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrophotometer (ICP-OES) was utilized to characterize the potash dopant for comparative analysis. Instrumental analysis including ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy (UV–Vis), infrared spectroscopy (IR), and gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (GC–MS) analysis were carried out to characterize the natural henna dye extracts. The photovoltaic performance including open-circuit voltage ( V oc ), short circuit current density ( J sc ), current ( I ), and power output ( P ) was analyzed quantitatively. ICP-OES analysis demonstrated that potash contains a composite of 26 elemental metals with K and Na accounting for 72.2% (5192.2 mg/kg) and 9.5% (682.6 mg/kg), respectively. GC–MS analysis confirmed the presence of lawsone and tocopherol in henna extracts. Among the tested samples, the Mg-doped TiO 2 group generated the highest improvement in J sc , from 0.66 to 1.28 (mA/cm 2 ), representing a 93% increase. Our experiments demonstrated that the presence of magnesium as a doping agent improves the photogenerated electron transport and the light-harvesting performance of the henna dye to increase the overall efficiency of light-to-electricity conversion of the photovoltaic cells.

Keywords

  • Dye-sensitized solar cell,
  • Natural chromophore,
  • Magnesium doping,
  • TiO2 photoanode,
  • Henna extract,
  • Immersion doping method,
  • Iodide electrolyte

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