Development of sensitized solar cells by photosynthetic pigments

Background Gratzel solar cell, also known as dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC), is a dye-sensitized nanocrystalline photovoltaic cell of TiO2 (titanium dioxide). It has a surface of nanoporous TiO2, a semiconductor of a wide bandgap. The basic principle is to transform light energy into electrical energy. When a dye molecule absorbs light, an electron is replaced by an excited state, and this dye can jump to the conduction band of TiO2. In the composite electrode, the electron diffuses from this TiO2 to the conductive glass. From there, the electron is taken to the electrode through a conductor. Similar to this process, the plant cell transforms the light into energy using photosynthetic pigments for absorption and many other mechanisms for the transfer and storage of energy, by a process known as photosynthesis. Observing and analyzing these methods, our objective was to use some photosynthetic pigments found in plants in Gratzel solar cells to evaluate the potential use of these pigments in the production of solar panels.