Abstract
Author(s): Anand S. Dixit, Anand V. Patwardhan, Aniruddha B. Pandit
“Prodigiosin”, the naturally occurring red pigment in Serratia Marcescens NCIM 5246 was used as a photosensitizer in Dye-sensitized Solar cell. Prodigiosin was produced from Serratia Marcescens NCIM 5246 by solid culture in nutrient agar for 48 hours and then extracting the pigment by using ethanol. The performance of this pigment was observed by optimizing several parameters of DSSC like the surface area of TIO2 film, Immersion time of TiO2 electrode in Pigment extract, Prodigiosin concentration, and sun intensity. Maximum cell efficiency of 0.4597% was observed at 1002.38 W/m2 . It was found that the cell efficiency was maximum i.e., 0.5071% at a concentration of 4162.574μg/ml. Increase in TiO2 surface area ameliorated the performance of Prodigiosin sensitized solar cell where it gave peak efficiency of 0.498% at highest TiO2 film surface area of 7.5 cm2 . The immersion time was varied from 10mins to 60mins where the efficiency was maximum i.e., 0.5195% at 50 mins. The main purpose of this investigation is to evaluate the effect of various parameters like sun intensity, the concentration of the sensitizer (Prodigiosin), Surface area of semiconductor (TiO2) and, Immersion time on the performance of dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC).