Koli Pooran
Department of Chemistry, Jai Narain Vyas University, Jodhpur, 342033, Rajasthan, India.
Heliyon. 2024 May 31;10(11):e32163. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e32163. eCollection 2024 Jun 15.
Photo-galvanic cells are liquid electrolyte-based dye-sensitized solar cells. Chemically, the dye/pigment photo-sensitizer, reductant, surfactant, and alkali materials are the main fabrication components of these cells. Most dye/pigment materials are more soluble and stable at high pH. The pH of Potassium hydroxide (an alkali of plant nutrient 'potassium' element) is very high. Therefore, Potassium hydroxide is supposed to be the best eco-friendly and effective alkali medium for photogalvanics. As far as alkali is concerned, NaOH has been exploited extensively in photo-galvanics. Although, the NaOH-based photo-galvanics show good electrical output, it is plagued with some drawbacks like shorter shelf life, high cost, unsafe for skin, low conductivity, low water solubility, etc. Therefore, in the present research, the KOH has been exploited as an alkali material for harvesting solar energy using the Sunset Yellow FCF dye sensitizer-Ascorbic acid reductant-CTAB surfactant cylindrical cell designed photo-galvanic system. In the present study, the observed optimum cell performance is as follows-open-circuit potential 777 mV, maximum current 25000 μA, short-circuit current 5600 μA, power 733.6 μW, fill factor 0.16, and efficiency is 19.77 % at pH 14.30 The Sunset Yellow FCF dye shows very high photostability and photo-absorption with KOH alkali. The power storage capacity is sufficiently robust, as the cell is capable of supplying power at its ∼36.16 % capacity after a very long time of 24 h. The KOH-Sunset Yellow FCF dye sensitizer-Ascorbic acid reductant-CTAB surfactant photo-galvanics in the present study show improved results over the reported results for the NaOH-Sunset Yellow FCF dye sensitizer-Ascorbic acid reductant-CTAB surfactant photo-galvanics. The reasons for the good photo-galvanics with KOH alkali may be attributed to some peculiar chemical and physical properties of KOH vis-à-vis the chemical and physical properties of NaOH.
光电化学电池是基于液体电解质的染料敏化太阳能电池。从化学角度来看，染料/颜料光敏剂、还原剂、表面活性剂和碱性材料是这些电池的主要制造成分。大多数染料/颜料材料在高pH值下更易溶解且更稳定。氢氧化钾（植物养分“钾”元素的一种碱）的pH值非常高。因此，氢氧化钾被认为是光电化学领域最佳的环保且有效的碱性介质。就碱而言，氢氧化钠已在光电化学领域得到广泛应用。尽管基于氢氧化钠的光电化学电池显示出良好的电输出，但它存在一些缺点，如保质期短、成本高、对皮肤不安全、导电性低、水溶性低等。因此，在本研究中，氢氧化钾被用作碱性材料，用于使用日落黄FCF染料敏化剂 - 抗坏血酸还原剂 - CTAB表面活性剂圆柱形电池设计的光电化学系统来收集太阳能。在本研究中，观察到的最佳电池性能如下：开路电位777 mV、最大电流25000 μA、短路电流5600 μA、功率733.6 μW、填充因子0.16，在pH值为14.30时效率为19.77%。日落黄FCF染料在氢氧化钾碱性条件下显示出非常高的光稳定性和光吸收能力。能量存储容量足够强大，因为该电池在24小时的很长时间后仍能够以其约36.16%的容量供电。本研究中的氢氧化钾 - 日落黄FCF染料敏化剂 - 抗坏血酸还原剂 - CTAB表面活性剂光电化学电池比报道的氢氧化钠 - 日落黄FCF染料敏化剂 - 抗坏血酸还原剂 - CTAB表面活性剂光电化学电池的结果有所改善。氢氧化钾碱性条件下光电化学性能良好的原因可能归因于氢氧化钾相对于氢氧化钠的一些特殊化学和物理性质。
