Characteristics of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells Using Dye from Pitaya Fruit

Dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) consists of TiO₂ nanoporous coating which acts as a photo electrode, a sensitizer of dye molecules soaked in the TiO₂ film, liquid electrolyte and a counter electrode. This paper focuses on the usage of a sensitizer from the Pitaya fruit. Pitaya or commonly known as dragon fruit (Hylocereus polyrhizus) was extracted and used as a sensitizer to fabricate the dye sensitized solar cell (DSSC). The photoelectrochemical performance of Pitaya based solar cell shows an open circuit voltage (V_OC) of 237 mV, short circuit current (I_SC) of 4.98 mA, fill factor (FF) of 0.51, solar cell efficiency (η) of 0.70 % and has a peak absorbance rate of 2.7 at 550 nm. The photoelectrochemical and UV-Visible light absorbance performance of Pitaya-DSSC shows good potential in future solar cell fabrication.