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S&M3590 Research Paper of Special Issue https://doi.org/10.18494/SAM4729 Published in advance: Published: March 29, 2024 Impact of Various Solvents on Extraction of Anthocyanins from Blueberry for Use in Dye-sensitized Solar Cells [PDF] Zhan-Sheng Yuan, Tian-Chiuan Wu, Jun-Kai Yang, Jenn-Kai Tsai, and Teen-Hang Meen (Received October 20, 2023; Accepted February 27, 2024) Keywords: blueberry juice, frame, natural dye source, dye-sensitized solar cells, photoanodes
We extracted anthocyanins from a natural dye source, blueberry, by a solvent extraction method for use as sensitizers in the fabrication of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). In the extraction of anthocyanins, we used solvents such as acetonitrile, tert-butanol, ethanol, and acetone, and their effects on the performance of DSSCs were examined. Currently, the available commercial-grade titanium dioxide (TiO2) powder is composed of 80 mol% rutile and 20 mol% anatase phases. In the preparation of the photoanode, the TiO2 powder was applied by a doctor blade technique. The prepared photoanodes were immersed in the extracted anthocyanin dye and exposed for different durations while being shielded from light throughout the process. To prepare electrodes, a platinum film approximately 1 nm thick was sputter-coated onto an indium tin oxide (ITO) glass substrate. Finally, the coated photoanodes were sealed with the electrode by dye-soaking. To evaluate the performance of the fabricated DSSCs, the incident photon-to-electron conversion efficiency (IPCE) was measured by ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV–VIS) and a solar simulator. The results showed that DSSCs with the dye extracted from blueberry in tert-butanol for 12 h showed the best efficiency. In this study, tert-butanol was the best extraction solvent for the fabrication of DSSCs with anthocyanins extracted from blueberry with an efficiency of 0.45% and a fill factor of 68.20%. Further study is required to find a more appropriate solvent and extraction method, while the result of this study proved that the use of a dye from a natural dye source such as blueberry in solar cell technology is promising.
Corresponding author: Tian-Chiuan Wu and Teen-Hang MeenThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Cite this article Zhan-Sheng Yuan, Tian-Chiuan Wu, Jun-Kai Yang, Jenn-Kai Tsai, and Teen-Hang Meen, Impact of Various Solvents on Extraction of Anthocyanins from Blueberry for Use in Dye-sensitized Solar Cells, Sens. Mater., Vol. 36, No. 3, 2024, p. 1179-1186. |