Dssc Performance of Zinc - Tin - Vanadium Oxide Nanocomposite Using Beetroot (Beta Vulgaris) as Dye Sensitizer

Abstract

In this present work, zinc - tin - vanadium oxide (ZTVO) nanocomposite was prepared using hydrothermal route and was subjected to calcination at 600 0 C. The sample was systematically characterized by Powder X-ray Diffractometer (XRD), Attenuated Total Reflectance (ATR), Field Emission Scanning electron Microscope (FE-SEM), Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) and Ultraviolet- Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopic techniques. From the investigations, it is observed that this composite possess the combination of both individual and binary phases. The elongated nanostructures obtained due to the binary phases and spherical shaped nanostructures obtained due to the individual phase were observed from the FE-SEM image. The formation of the nanocomposite has further been confirmed from TEM and HRTEM images. ZTVO nanocomposite possess large surface area of 167.3 m2/g and pore size value around 11 nm. Also, the band gap of the material has been found to be 1.97 eV. Dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) has been fabricated using this ZTVO nanocomposite as the photoanode and betalain dye extracted from beetroot (Beta vulgaris) as the natural dye. This simple protocol was formulated at a low cost for the first time for DSSC fabrication and it has attained the efficiency of 3.41%. This better efficiency of ZTVO might be due to larger surface area, presence of pores in addition to smaller band gap.