Humic Acid as a Sensitizer in Highly Stable Dye Solar Cells: Energy from an Abundant Natural Polymer Soil Component.

ABSTRACT: Humic acid (HA), a natural polymer and soil component, was explored as a photosensitizer in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Photophysical and electrochemical properties show that HA covers a broad visible range of the electromagnetic spectrum and exhibits a quasi-reversible nature in cyclic voltammetry (CV). Because of its abundant functionalities, HA was able to bind onto the nano-titania surface and possessed good thermal stability. HA was employed as a sensitizer in DSSCs and characterized by various photovoltaic techniques such as I-V, incident-photo-to-current conversion efficiency (IPCE), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), and Tafel polarization. The HA-based device shows a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 1.4% under 1 sun illumination. The device per

SUBMITTER: Vekariya RL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6640757 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature