Solar Cells that is Bio-Sensitized

Ane Galarneau^*
*Correspondence: Ane Galarneau, Research Director, CNRS Institute Charles Gerhardt of Montpellier, France, Email:

Introduction

The need for energy will be the most pressing issue for the next 50 years due to the alarming rate of population growth. Fossil fuel combustion now accounts for the majority of energy production, but it is still widespread. Global warming is brought on by an increase in the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide as a result of fossil fuel use. Carbon has emerged as a significant concern for scientists as a result of the search for a free, clean, and long-lasting energy source. The sun, which provides approximately ten thousand times the amount of energy required by humanity, is the most obvious source. Currently uses solar photovoltaic cells, which can convert sunlight directly into electrical power and represent one of the best potential future clean and renewable energy sources [1].

Description

Although Si-based solar cells have been developed and commercialised for more than 30 years, a dye-sensitized solar cell is the most promising photovoltaic cell. The concept for this DSSC was first proposed in the early 1970s, but Grätzel and his colleagues made significant progress in 1991. A photo-active dye, a mesoporous nanocrystalline semiconductor layer coated on a transparent conducting oxide substrate, a liquid electrolyte, and a Pt-coated TCO substrate are typical components of a DSSC device [2]. When excited, the dye molecules inject electrons into the nanocrystalline semiconductor's conduction band. The TCO anode collects electrons, which travel via the outside circuit to the Pt-coated cathode. The surplus electrons at the cathode decrease it to three, and the three are oxidised back to regenerate the dye molecules at the anode.

Molecules of an appropriately chosen dye play an important role in determining overall cell performance in a DSSC; many dyes, including ruthenium polypyridine complexes, phthalocyanine, xanthenes, and coumarins, have thus been tested as potential sensitizers. The highest power conversion efficiency, 11%, was reached utilising ruthenium bi-pyridine derivatives, although the poisonous and rare synthetic organic and inorganic dyes June present issues in their mass manufacture and environmental effect. For these reasons, the search for natural dye compounds has been a major focus of research [3].

Current cutting-edge dye sensitised solar cell platforms June attain sunlight harvesting efficiencies of more than 12%, which is equivalent to polycrystalline silicon solar cells. The majority of current research is to improve DSSC efficiency for commercial applications requiring brittle indium tin oxide glass substrates and temperature sensitive dyes and electrolytes. Platforms based on flexible ITO/polyethylene terephthalate electrodes have been developed to increase applicability, but no emphasis has been placed on developing very flexible DSSC electrodes for extreme environmental and mechanical stress. The cutting-edge liquid iodine electrolyte and ruthenium dyes operate admirably in stable conditions, but they fail fast in severe temperatures and physical damage to external electrodes [4,5].

With increasing temperature, the conduction band of the liquid iodine electrolyte bends towards the valence band, causing a rise in exciton recombination, a drop in cell voltage output, and finally denaturing of the ruthenium dye. Temperature variations because fast volume changes in liquid electrolytes, causing cell destruction, while rips or tears in the electrodes cause rapid evaporation of the liquid electrolyte, resulting in cell inoperability. Ti02 nanotubes have a highly organised structure with vertical pore geometry, making them ideal for the fabrication of lid-state junction cells. This is largely because nanotubes have a one-dimensional conductive channel as opposed to the three-dimensional unsystematic walk network and grain boundary effects associated with randomly ordered nanoparticles. It has been demonstrated that aligned Ti02 nanotube arrays outperform typical Ti0₂ nanoparticle films of the same thickness in terms of light scattering and collecting efficiency.

In addition to the electron collecting substrate, the use of strong dye pigments is emphasised. Specific blOmatlerals, such as optical membrane proteins, can provide improved thermal or chemical resistance, longevity, and possibly higher sun harvesting efficiency than existing state-of-theart ruthenium dyes Spelfically, the retinal protein bacteriorhodopsin has a maximum theoretical light-harvesting efficiency of 25% and an average specific power of, 103 W/kg, but silicon has only 18% and 32 W/kg, respectively. Recent research has also shown that incorporating colloidal semiconductor quantum dots into bR June boost photon uptake by 20-fold and bR output by 300%, making bR an excellent biomolecule for sensitised solar cell systems.

Anthocyanins, for example, have recently shown promise as a lowcost and viable alternative to traditional synthetic dyes. Anthocyanin, which belongs to the flavonoid class, is found in the tissues of many different fruits and plants. Anthocyanins absorb light in the blue-green area between 450 and 600 nm wavelengths in cell vacuoles, allowing many fruits and plants to reflect red, purple, or blue. The anthocyanin absorpt on spectrum June be modified according on the kind of anthocyanin, pH, the sugar attached, and where the sugar is situated on the anthocyanin molecule structure.

This research aims to improve the DSSC platform's robustness by incorporating advanced biological dyes, a stable gel-polymer electrolyte, and an enhanced electron conduction pathway using Ti02. Highly ordered Ti0₂ NTs were synthesised in an electrolyte solution using a dual anodization method on Ti. Anodization duration, voltage, and electrolyte composition were used to adjust the length, diameter, and wall thickness of the nanotubes. Nitrogen drying was used to remove NT sheets, which were then annealed at 450°C.

Annual energy demands are growing dramatically over the world, and present technologies based on carbon fuel burning have resulted in considerable rises in atmospheric CO₂ levels. Renewable energy harvesting from the environment, such as solar energy conversion using photovoltaic devices, is an appealing option that tries to capture a fraction of the almost 175,000 terajoules of sun photonic energy that strikes the Earth each year. Current PV systems on the market are made of inorganic materials such as hazardous heavy metals and rare-earth elements, and have prohibitively expensive production procedures, expenses, and post-installation mobility. Furthermore, because of the specialised recycling needs, existing firstgeneration PVs are expected to create almost 80 million metric tonnes of garbage by 2050.

As a result, it is evident that additional advancement of present PV technology is required to meet future energy demands. Bio-sensitized solar cells are a viable solution to overcome these challenges by utilising simple manufacturing procedures with non-toxic and plentiful materials. BSSCs are based on dye-sensitized solar cells, who pioneered the design of a photosensitizing dye incorporated into a thin-layer style device with much more relaxed manufacturing requirements and the ability to incorporate many different types of materials in device fabrication.

Conclusion

Over the last several years, the creation and development of devices combining the major components of natural biological photosynthesis, primarily the solarto-electrical energy conversion protein-pigment complexes, has emerged as an exciting topic of research complexes, has emerged as an intriguing topic of investigation in recent years. These bio-sensitized devices have the potential to be utilised in future applications such as photoswitchable biosensors, solar-to-chemical, and solar-to-electrical energy converting systems, laying the groundwork for a green energy economy.

References

1. Su, Kaiqi, Xianxin Qiu, Jiaru Fang and Quchao Zou, et al. "An improved efficient biochemical detection method to marine toxins with a smartphone-based portable system-Bionic e-Eye." Sens Actuators B Chem 238 (2017): 1165-1172.

Google Scholar, Crossref

2. Zhang, Diming and Qingjun Liu. "Biosensors and bioelectronics on smartphone for portable biochemical detection." Biosens Bioelectron 75 (2016): 273-284.

Google Scholar, Crossref, Indexed at

3. Lu, Yanli, Zhenghan Shi and Qingjun Liu. "Smartphone-based biosensors for portable food evaluation." Curr Opin Food Sci 28 (2019): 74-81.

Google Scholar, Crossref, Indexed at

4. Li, Shuang, Daizong Ji, Gang Xu and Jinglong Liu, et al. "Biosensors and Bioelectronics on Smartphone." Handbook of Cell Biosens (2022): 627-655.

Google Scholar, Indexed at

5. Schmidt, A., C. Standfuss Gabisch and U. Bilitewski. "Microbial biosensor for free fatty acids using an oxygen electrode based on thick film technology." Biosens Bioelectron 11 (1996): 1139-1145.

Google Scholar, Crossref, Indexed at